Olympian Panzers
by Aldaeus
Summary: Ooarai has won the national championship, things have settled down into a regular schedule for the Sensha-Do team preparing for their next step, the international championships. Will they have what it takes... or will something interrupt them on their road to the international championships?
1. Chapter 1

Alright guys, here's the disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything with Girls Und Panzer's rights, though I do thank the creator of the series for how amazing it is.

So, it's finally time to reveal this backburner project I've been telling my readers about. For those of you who are reading this and haven't read any of my stories which are unrelated to this one seeing as they're all Gundam related… I'll break it down for you. (xxxxxx = Chapter Start/End, xxx = Scene break.)

I will warn ahead of time, if you haven't seen the series there may be spoilers ahead in coming chapters. Then again this is fan fiction and when isn't there…

*Tap*

Wha… Oh thank you.

"You're welcome Mr. Aldaeus." Darjeeling smiled as she handed him a cup of tea.

I already like this cast much more than the massive Gundam crossover I'm writing… much less violent…

*Rumble*

Wha…

*CRASH!*

WHAT THE HELL!?

"MY DARJEELING!" Orange roared as she drove the Churchill VII through the wall.

SAVE ME!

"GET HIM!" Assam commanded as she opened up with the main gun.

"Oh my…" Darjeeling smiled as the Churchill VII rumbled past chasing Aldaeus away. "Well then, enjoy the chapter, and please read and review."

Darjeeling save me they're crazy!

"keep a stiff upper lip Mr. Aldaeus." Darjeeling sipped on her tea as Ald ran past.

xxxxxx

Olympian Panzers

Ch. 1

An Announcement

"Miho Nishizumi please report to the student council room immediately!" A voice came over the announcement system in the middle of their lunch period.

"Wha… but we just sat down…" Miho gaped after finally reaching their seat through the admirers she had gained, as a result of winning the national Sensha-do championship and saving Ooarai Girl's Academy.

"What could Anzu want?" Hana blinked as she looked over at Miho.

"Whatever it is I think it's urgent…" Mako shrugged.

"What makes you say that Mako?" Saori looked at her.

"Because the monitors say urgent, and she said she wanted her there immediately." Mako pointed at the monitors and sighed.

"I'll be back soon…" Miho sighed as she got up and began to make her way quickly from the cafeteria.

Xxx

"Thank you for coming Miho!" Anzu smiled at her as she entered the student council room.

"What's this about Anzu, I finally got to the table for lunch…" Miho sighed as she turned to look before freezing on the spot from seeing her elder sister, Maho.

"Maho, what are you doing here?" Miho blinked seeing her sister slightly glaring at her.

"I'm here because I was told to come by mother for some reason, and she…" Maho pointed at Anzu "Has refused to inform us why until you got here."

"Us?" Miho blinked.

"Come now Maho, don't be angry with your sister over this…" The sweet voice came from one of the chairs near the desk, before Darjeeling poked her head out around the chair and smiled at Miho.

"I disagree… she's been nothing but secrets since I stepped over the gate to this school." Anchovie glared as she shot out of her seat.

"You disagree with everyone Anchovie." The voice of Katyusha chimed in smiling, knowing she'd gotten under the taller girl's skin.

"Oh come on, Anji is just teasing us… don't get flustered over it…" Kay smiled as she flashed Miho a peace sign.

"Why is everyone here?" Miho blinked looking around at the other top ranking schools' Sensha-Do commanders.

Anzu cleared her throat "Now that we're all here, you can come in Instructor Chouno."

The adjoining door to the main teachers' offices opened and the Sensha-do instructor of Ooarai entered smiling at them. "Thank you all for coming… and sorry for keeping everyone in the dark for so long about this."

"Wha… you didn't even know!?" Anchovie glared at Anzu who shrugged.

"Girls, calm down, this is an important matter, and it's why you've all been called here on such short notice…" Ami looked around at them. "We've received a small shock you could say in the International Sensha-Do world…"

"International?" Maho blinked. "You mean something happened with the international championship tournament this year?"

"Yes, it's been canceled." Ami said it so nonchalantly it didn't register immediately with all of the girls in the room.

"WHAT!?" All of the girls collectively yelled gaping at the news.

"Hold on!" Ami held up her hands. "It's because of something taking its place…"

"What could be more important than the International Championship, we were training to take part in it just yesterday!" Anzu was shell shocked and for the first time really showing some anger at the surprise news.

Ami coughed before reaching into her pocket and pulling out a letter "This…" She unfolded it and smiled "From the International Sensha-Do commission, this year's International Championship tournament has been canceled. The reason for this is that in place of Wrestling, Sensha-Do has once again been admitted to the Summer Olympic Games, which will take place over the same time that the International tournament would have been. In the interest of all participating nations, we do not intend to deny their Olympic teams of their best and brightest girls."

She smiled before unfolding the second page "From the International Olympic Committee, with the selection of Tokyo for the games, the inclusion of Sensha-Do was decided seeing as it is a central part of Japanese culture, and has been over the past century of its existence. The competition will be in the same format as it had been held during the seventies, a tournament bracket of all nations entering teams. As the tournament had been done in the seventies, the Panzers available for use are to be from 1930 to 1970. Further details pertaining rule changes to better adapt to the Olympic format will come shortly. See you in Tokyo." She looked up and all of the girls were seemingly stunned.

"Olympics… THE OLYMPICS!?" Anzu gaped as it finally registered in their heads.

"Yes, and it's the reason you've all been asked here… as the commanders of the nation's top ranking schools, you're being asked to gather your very best for the Japanese Olympic Team." Ami looked around at them. "Oh and Darjeeling, your tea is overflowing…"

"Ahh!" Darjeeling tipped her cup back upright to avoid spilling anymore.

"It takes a lot to make Darjeeling spill her tea… and I'd say this qualifies as a lot…" Kay smiled.

"So, why couldn't we just be told at our own schools?" Maho asked.

"Because… you see, it was decided that the Sensha-do team will train here at Ooarai…" Ami smiled at them. "And you've all been selected for it, because of your outstanding performance in the national tournament."

"Why not just take the national champions?" Katyusha asked looking at Miho.

"Because, the tanks available to us are what we have available… the government's budget is really tight with all of the projects getting the Olympic stadiums and facilities ready…" Ami looked at them.

"So wait, we're going into this tournament with what we have!?" Anchovie gaped "They said we could use tanks from anywhere between 1930 and 1970, that's a huge gap and our schools tanks go to 1945 at the latest! We're gonna be the laughing stock of the competition!"

"Well, not really… you see back then Japan went by the international rules… which allowed up to 1970 in Sensha-Do. The thing about this is… according to the records, after it was dropped from the Olympics, Japan dropped down the years to allow for more competitive play." Ami looked around at them.

"Let me guess…" Anzu looked at Miho.

"We didn't have any records of tanks from outside Ooarai…" Miho blinked before looking at Ami.

"That's because they weren't in Ooarai's records… they were in the Olympic records. But records show that all schools outside of Ooarai sold off their tanks to get more tanks from the period set by the new rules." Ami smiled at them.

"So wait… what're you saying?" Kay looked at her "You mean they're here already?"

"That's the thing, after Ooarai dropped Sensha-Do twenty one years ago, before reviving it, records were poorly maintained… we were lucky we found the ones we did, however there is a possibility that the others are scattered like the ones we had located." Ami looked at Miho "Well Commander, think you can find them?"

"What about our schools, we don't have enough people in this room for a full team!" Maho looked at Ami.

"Maho, you're forgetting, the team won't just be made up of tank commanders… each of you can select enough to make up the Sensha-Do team. The overall final team size hasn't been announced, but we may be looking at for the final round anywhere between thirty and forty Panzers." Ami smiled.

"Wait that's double the nationals' size… almost none of our schools have that many crews up to that caliber…" Kay gaped.

"That's why we have a few months to prepare…" Ami looked around at them. "But first, we need to find the missing Olympic Panzers."

"I don't know this ship…" Maho looked at her then looked at the others, who nodded in turn.

Ami smiled. "President Anzu, if you don't mind, please excuse the Sensha-Do team from their afternoon classes, we need all hands available searching for our missing panzers."

Anzu nodded "Yuzuko, Momo I need you in here!" She yelled and the two nearly kicked in the door on cue. "Request the Sensha-Do team members to assemble at the garages, they're dismissed from their afternoon classes for a mandatory team meeting."

"Wha… all of the afternoon!?" Momo gaped. "We just saved the school two months ago, and we just got our heads off of the chopping block, if we do that it'll be a PR nightmare!"

"It'll be a PR nightmare if our nation doesn't have a Sensha-Do team for the Olympics!" Anzu yelled.

"On it!" Momo spun on the spot and exited the room.

Miho looked at her sister, who had pulled out her phone "Mother, I need Erika and at least two crews here now… it's important… I think you know why. Thank you very much." She ended the call before looking at Miho. "Reinforcements are on their way to help the search."

"Thanks sis…" Miho nodded.

"Attention, this is an announcement to all of the Sensha-Do team, you've been excused from your afternoon classes for an emergency meeting, and all members are to assemble at the garages immediately!" Momo's voice echoed over the school's PA system.

"Miho, take the commanders to the garages, I'll be along shortly after I gather what little information we have from the records." Ami looked at her and Miho nodded before the others got out of their seats and joined her.

Xxx

"Where's Commander Miho?" Yukari looked around not seeing their tank commander.

"Probably coming with the President from her office…" Mako yawned.

"Attention!" Yuzuko yelled calling the girls to attention as they arrived.

"Ahh!" Saori gaped as she pointed, seeing the group as they walked past them. "What are all of the different school's commanders doing here!?"

"All will be explained." Anzu looked around at them "By Commander Miho…" She gestured to Miho who gaped and flushed red a little.

"I uhh…" Miho should have known by now that Anzu would delegate it to her. "I have two announcements…" She looked around at all of the panzer crews. "…I'm going to ask you to hold all questions until I'm finished. First, the International Championship has been canceled." She bit her tongue as gasps and a murmur broke out. "Wait, hold on! There is a reason… the reason is, it would have overlapped the Summer Olympic Games. The reason for this is that Sensha-Do has been admitted once again to the summer games."

The girls fell silent before it finally clicked "WHA…!?"

A hand shot up from the ranks "It hasn't been in the summer games since the 1972 games, does this mean we're going!?"

"Possibly…" Ami spoke as she walked over "I have what remains of the records… all teams, we requested for this meeting, because we're going on another search for our Panzers. The records show that most of the panzers from the last Olympics used by Japan were aboard, we need to find them and assess what we have available to us, reinforcements from the other schools will arrive shortly. As we do so, we'll form search parties and go looking for the missing panzers."

"We had a hard enough time finding ours, what makes you think we'll find any more this time?" Noriko asked "Why can't we just use ours, and why are they here?" She pointed at the other commanders.

"Because the period limitations set by the National committee aren't what the Olympic committee has set. The panzers available are from anytime between 1930 and 1970." Ami looked around at them. "And according to the letter they sent to the Internationalcommittee, the matches could range from anywhere between 30 and 40 panzers. We can assume that the other nations will be bringing the very best they have available to them, which outclasses the vast majority of our panzers. The other schools' commanders are here because they were requested to take part on the Olympic team, and will be responsible for choosing the team's remaining members." She flipped open the records "According to the records, the mystery about our Porsche Tiger has been solved… it was one of the missing Olympic panzers used by Japan in 1968's games."

"You mean our Tiger P was used in the Olympics!?" Satoko gaped realizing the panzer she commanded during the finals, had last been used in the Olympic Games.

"There are many more supposedly, but…" Ami turned the notebook around. "The records were damaged in a small flood and we don't know what else we have… or where they are…"

"Kay!" A girl's voice yelled as the screech of tires caught their attention, when a jeep skidded to a halt near them.

"Great you guys made it in time!" Kay smiled at Naomi and Alisa, the second and third in command of Sanders Sensha-Do team, before a defining sound echoed around them as the wind picked up, a pair of ropes dropped down from a helicopter and one after another two units of girls in the Black Forest Peak uniforms slid down before forming up, and last down was the second in command of the school's panzers, Erika.

"Nonna!" Katyusha yelled and as if on cue she showed up.

"Orange be a dear and freshen up my tea…" Darjeeling smiled as she held out a cup and it was filled by her companion.

"Right, now that the reinforcements have arrived…" Ami looked around at the Ooarai teams. "…everyone pair up and start the search, report back if any of the missing Panzers are found."

"You expect us to walk around and search this place?" Anchovie gaped at her.

"Well I didn't say you had to walk…" Ami smiled before turning to Miho. "I think it will help the search go a little quicker, if you take the panzers."

Miho nodded. "All teams, to your panzers!" Suddenly the others were alarmed as all of Ooarai's units charged the doors. The rumble of the panzers' engines starting echoed in the garage as they began to pull out.

"Hey what about us!?" Erika glared at Miho as the Pz IV Ausf. H came to a halt along with the others just outside the garages.

"Well let's get going, we're supposed to go with their teams to not get lost, right…" Kay smiled as she gestured to Naomi and Alisa. "Dibs on the team with the M3!"

"We'll go with the Tiger P then!" Erika quickly made her way long with one of the Black Forest Peak units to the Tiger P.

"We'll go with the B1 then." Darjeeling smiled as she and Orange made their way to the French tank.

"I'm going with that Type 89 then." Anchovie marched over to it and climbed up, and took a seat on its turret.

"We'll go with the Hetzer." Katyusha quickly ran over to it with Nonna.

"Commander, we'll go with the Stug III Ausf. F." The second team from Black Forest Peak ran over to it.

Maho looked around at the tanks, all of them seemed full except one, the one right in front of her, the Pz IV Ausf. H. "I'm coming with you then…"

Miho blinked as her sister climbed up onto her tank and sat down next to the commander's hatch.

The hatch in front of them opened "The others are all ready Miho, we're awaiting your orders." Saori stuck her head out and looked up at the two.

Miho nodded and activated her throat mic "All teams, spread out and search, Panzer Vor!"

Xxxxxx

I hope everyone enjoyed the chapter. As I said this is a back burner project that has been floating around in my head since I saw the series. I have a few chapters written but I'll try to keep it to a schedule considering the main project I'm working on is the 8 part mass crossover of all of the military universes of the Gundam meta with a few exceptions. *groan*

"No groaning!" Katyusha bellowed as she kicked Ald's back. "Nonna I need more cookies!"

"Yes Katyusha…" Nonna smiled at her as she walked over and placed the tray on Aldaeus's head for Katyusha to partake of.

"Katyusha likes cookies!" Katyusha smiled as she referred to herself in the third person before taking a large chunk out of a thumbprint cookie getting blue icing on her cheeks in the process. "See you next time, bring me some presents while you're at it!"

Nonna smiled as she jotted down in a book to remember to get Katyusha presents between chapters.


	2. Chapter 2

Alright guys, here's the disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything with Girls Und Panzer's rights, though I do thank the creator of the series for how amazing it is.

I'm glad people are enjoying the story thus far. I'm enjoying writing it just as much as everyone is reading it.

*Tap*

Wha

*CRACK!*

WHAT THE HELL!?

"I SHOULD BE THE MAIN CHARACTER, BOW DOWN TO ME!" Anchovie snapped as she leveled her riding crop at Aldaeus's nose.

*blink*

You're shorter than me even while I'm sitting in a chair… no.

"You dare… defy me…" Anchovy fumed as she glared at him.

"Your arch was merely a footnote in the animated series anyway…" Katyusha grinned as she took another spoonful of pudding from Nonna.

"YOU'LL REGRET THAT YOU LITTLE…" Anchovie paled as seemingly all of the Sensha-Do team from Pravda appeared.

"Get her… and Ald while you're at it…" Katyusha ordered.

OH GOD!

"RUN!" Anchovy and Aldaeus took off at a run as the thunderous clatter of T-34-85's chased after them.

"Wow… and I thought you ran fast Alisa…" Kay grinned at her.

"I had a good reason to run away!" Alisa glared at her.

"Whatever…" Naomi shrugged as she flipped another page in the magazine she was reading "Let's get this chapter started already…" she muttered right before she blew a bubble.

"Alright then, hey everyone! Enjoy the chapter, and please review!" Kay smiled as she

xxxxxx

Ch. 2

Panzer Vor!

The Pz VI Ausf. H clattered through the streets as the girls looked around searching. "Honestly, we're not going to find any panzers like this… we'd be better off preparing the other school's panzers." Maho looked around as they rounded a corner and began driving down a side street.

"Miho!" Saori stuck her head out of the hatch again "Hippo team thinks they've found something!"

"Hippo team?" Maho blinked and looked at Miho.

"Team C, the Stug III." Miho looked at her for a moment before turning back to Saori "What've they found?"

Xxx

"What is it?" One of the Black Forest Peak girls looked at it.

"Whatever it is… it's got a funky turret…" Another of the girls reached up and grabbed the gun, pulling herself up onto its angular front.

"I remember this from somewhere, but…" Erwin looked at it while sitting on the ground pondering the strange looking tank.

"A JS-3 maybe?" Caesar suggested as she looked at it from the front.

"Too tall… and what's with that strange turret?" Oryou blinked as she adjusted her glasses, watching the Black Forest Peak girls go over the tank that was sticking out of a bush seemingly having gotten stuck backwards up a tree.

"Wait I've almost got the turret hatch!" One of the girls yelled before a loud crack caught their attention as the tank crashed down onto the back half of its tracks with several loud bangs, while three of its road wheels exploded before its turret swiveled down into place.

"I don't believe it… I know what this is…" Erwin gaped. "A pivot mounted turret… and that camo… it's French, it's one of the post war prototype tanks of the French! One of the Lorraine 40t prototype main battle tanks!"

The girls from Black Forest Peak righted themselves from the ground and their spots on the tank.

Xxx

"A what?" Miho blinked.

"A Lorraine 40t?" Maho was a little puzzled.

"That's what she called it, apparently it's some postwar prototype tank like the Porsche Tiger was, but it was never put into production…" Saori looked at them.

The hatch next to Maho's leg popped open and Yukari stuck her head out "A Lorraine 40t!? Are you sure?" She looked at Saori who nodded and held out her phone.

"Erwin and Hippo team took a picture with it." Saori brought up the picture she'd been sent.

"What if they're all prototype tanks that were used? None of them ever saw production, so there has to be flaws with them… think of the Porsche Tiger… think of how many problems it has." Maho looked at Miho.

"The Lorraine 40t is not to be joked about! It was a superb machine and took influences from the JS-3, and Panther." Yukari looked up at the two of them. "On top of the fact that it had a massive 100mm gun with a six round clip, its engine was said to have been a German made Maybach taken from a Tiger which was much heavier than it."

"What a sad thing to do to a proud panzer like the Tiger…" Maho glared.

Xxx

"Hippo team found the first of the lost panzers, it's a variant of the AMX-50t prototype, a Lorraine 40t." Midoriko stuck her head out of the hatch and looked over at Darjeeling, who was sitting on the top of the B1 sipping her tea.

"That's wonderful." Darjeeling smiled at her "Care for some tea?"

"Now's not the time to be sitting and drinking tea…" Midoriko glared at her.

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating dear…" Darjeeling smiled as Orange held out a cup for Midoriko.

Midoriko took the cup and took a sip of the black tea. "It's… not bad…"

"Sodoko!" a voice shouted from within the tank.

"What is it Gomoyo?" Midoriko asked as she looked down into the tank.

"YOU'RE STANDING ON THE THROTTLE!" Gomoyo yelled as she realized they'd been steadily accelerating and were now at full speed,while they flew through the streets as fast as the B1 would go.

"Inside dear…" Darjeeling nodded as Midoriko quickly climbed down the hatch to find Darjeeling scotching her out of the way, as Orange climbed in and getting the teary eyed Gomoyo out of the driver's seat.

"The throttle is jammed!" Midoriko struggled trying to force it back.

"What can't be cured must be endured." Darjeeling smiled before sipping her tea.

"Wha!?" Midoriko blinked at Darjeeling, who was surprisingly calm even though they were driving so fast.

"Then again…" Darjeeling sighed as she looked at the throttle. "Move…"

"Huh…" Midoriko leapt back against the tank wall as Darjeeling gave the throttle a sharp kick, un-sticking it in the process, before pulling it back with her foot.

"In love and battle, we British cease to be refined." Darjeeling smiled as the tank slowed back to a more normal speed.

"What the heck's that supposed to mean?" Gomoyo looked at Darjeeling as they were all a little puzzled by the normally refined girl suddenly showing some brute force to get them out of the situation.

"You'll get used to it…" Orange smiled at the other girls before the tank suddenly lurched downwards and came to an abrupt stop.

"Is everyone all right?" Darjeeling asked as she glanced around at them.

"I think everyone's all right…" Midoriko looked around "Let's get out and check the B1."

It didn't take them long to clamber out of the tank, which was over an embankment with its front down in a small stream next to a bridge.

"Oh good heavens… how are we going to get this out of here commander?" Orange blinked and looked at Darjeeling.

"Do we have a hose?" Darjeeling asked "And a petrol can?"

"Why would we need those?" Midoriko asked.

"Because, if we have them we can siphon the petrol from the B1 and hopefully that starts up… and we can tow it out…" Darjeeling gestured to a machine parked under the center of the bridge.

Pazumi gaped "That's a…"

"Centurion!" Gomoyo cheered recognizing the old British panzer that had been the backbone of its army since the Second World War.

Xxx

"Darjeeling found what!?" Kay gaped as she heard the news.

"A Centurion…" Yuuki looked up at them from her seat.

"Did you hear that Darjeeling beat us to finding a tank too!" Alisa looked out to Naomi.

"So… the Centurion is a good tank… we just have to find something that's similar…" Naomi shrugged.

"That's not okay, they beat us!" Alisa yelled as she sat on the edge of the door yelling at Naomi.

"Hang on there's a bump!" Karina yelled from the driver's seat.

"Huh…? Alisa yelled before the M3 Lee hit the bump sending her flying.

"Alisa!" Kay yelled as Naomi jumped from the top of the tank grabbing her as they rolled down into a ditch along the side of the road.

"Owww…" Alisa rubbed her head as they hit something hard.

"You okay?" Naomi asked as she rubbed her back.

"Yeah I'm fine, but what did we land on…?" Alisa trailed off as they found themselves staring at a really big turret.

"What in the hell?" Alisa blinked seeing it.

"Alisa, Naomi, are you…?" Kay trailed off as she saw them sitting on it "That's an M103… hot damn that's an M103!"

Xxx

"More reports are coming in, two more tanks have been found!" Saori stuck her head out of the hatch "Darjeeling found a Centurion, and Kay found an M103!"

"The UN forces heavy hitters during the cold war…" Maho blinked.

"So not all of the panzers from the Olympic team were prototypes, the Centurion and M103 were backbones for their armies for some time…" Yukari stuck her head out of the hatch, "What do you think Miho, they've just found them lying along the side of the roads they've been on, it sounds like they were just parked there or something…"

"Wha… say that again?" Saori blinked as she heard it "You're seeing things… panzers have two tracks not four!"

"Four tracks?" Miho looked at Yukari who shrugged a little.

"I know of only one tank with four tracks… and it's in the Americas… a prototype super heavy tank known as the T28… it was re-designated the T95 motorized gun carriage." Yukari looked at her. "Only two were produced, and both were supposedly sold for scrap but they found one in the back of a field at some fort in the mid seventies… It was intended to be used in the European theater during the Second World War to deal with the Siegfried line, however the quick pace of the allied armies overran it and it was instead prepared for the invasion of the home islands, which in reality never truly happened thanks to America's airpower..."

Xxx

"It's huge…" Anchovie gaped as she stood on top of the massive T95 looming out of the mud it was stuck in.

"Looks like someone spiked this one into the dirt hard…" Noriko blinked as she looked at the rear of the machine, sunken so deeply into the dirt it was nearly level with the surface.

"We're sure this thing isn't some sort of fixed gun or something?" Shinobu asked "I mean look at it…"

Xxx

"WHAT?!" Katyusha gaped "Why is everyone else finding panzers but not us!?"

"Because of luck… we don't exactly have a map with an x marking where each one is, you know…" Anzu looked at her.

"It's because you're not trying hard enough… you're doing nothing but relaxing in that seat while they do all the work!" Katyusha snapped.

"Pot calling the kettle black, Katyusha darling?" A voice came over the radio and she instantly recognized it as Darjeeling, as a rumble echoed through the Hetzer she stuck her head out to see the much larger Centurion following the B1 back to the school. With Darjeeling sipping tea from her place in the commander's hatch.

"That… that… that's not true!" Katyusha yelled back over the radio.

"Katyusha you're…" Nonna tried to stop her but a swift kick landed in Yuzuo's left shoulder.

"That way, okay…" Yuzuo turned the Hetzer and suddenly they found themselves driving into a wooden fence blocking off the road from a field.

"AHHH!" Katyusha ducked inside as they crashed through the fence "You're crazy you know that, RIGHT!?"

"Right… okay…" Yuzuo turned the tank back to the right and they came to a sudden stop as the tank threw everyone forward.

"What the hell?" Momo blinked as she wheeled on Katyusha. "You'd better hope you didn't damage our Hetzer or you can walk back!"

"Calm down Momo, we're probably just stuck on a rock… let's get out and see if we can push ourselves off, if we can't we can radio Darjeeling, she's nearby and could give us a push…" Anzu shrugged.

"Like hell! I'd rather walk than ask for help from her at this point!" Katyusha glared. "Nonna, help me out."

"Yes ma'am." Nonna climbed out and lifted Katyusha out while the others clambered out, they blinked seeing the Hetzer seemingly forced upward by a massive lilac bush.

"Useless weak German tank, can't even run over a bush!" Katyusha kicked the Hetzer before leaping backwards, as it rolled back and revealing what had forced it up.

"You were asking about us finding a panzer…" Anzu looked at her "Well that's a panzer…"

Nonna blinked "An Iosif Stalin 8…"

"Nonna, lets clear this off, I think we need to make Darjeeling eat her words!" Katyusha ran towards the panzer.

"It probably won't start, it's been sitting here for how many years…" Momo trailed off as the low rumble of the IS-8's engine roared to life while Nonna sat in the driver's seat. A loud ripping sound and several sharp cracks came as the whole lilac bush was ripped from the ground and fell apart as the IS-8 began driving out.

"Those girls from Pravda are pretty determined…" Yuzuo looked as the bush seemingly crumbled around the low and long IS-8 before it drove up onto the road and accelerated quickly after the Centurion.

Xxx

"It's a little cramped in here you know…" Erika glared at Satoko. "Why did you insist on all of us being inside anyway!?"

"Because the Porsche Tiger has a nasty habit of catching fire, and if you were on the engine deck when that happened… you'd be on fire as well…" Satoko looked at her.

"Why else do you think we have several additional fire extinguishers?" Hoshino looked over at her. "This thing was a prototype anyway…"

"Then why use it, if it has so many problems?" Another of the girls from Black Forest Peak asked.

"Because it's what we had, we're not a large school like yours, we have to make do with what we have." Suzuki looked at her from her spot in the tank near the ammunition.

"Hey Satoko, the transmission's acting up again…" Tsuchiya looked up at her from the driver's seat. "Probably wearing out the first gear set again…"

"Great… a project on top of repairing all of the new tanks…" Satoko smiled. "I love rebuilding the transmission."

"What's your record at now?" Hoshino asked.

"Thirty six minutes flat from start to finish with all of the parts available." Satoko smiled as Erika gaped.

"How…" Another member of the Black Forest Peak team asked.

"The reason we were given this stubborn Porsche Tiger was that we're all of the members of the Automotive club… from the start we worked on all of the tanks. Whenever they were damaged in a match, we'd rebuild them. We went over this baby with a fine toothed comb, we know every nut and bolt in it." Satoko smiled.

"Hey Satoko, it rained yesterday right?" Tsuchiya asked from her seat.

"Yeah why?" Satoko replied.

"Didn't they repave the intersection we're coming up to last week?" Suzuki blinked and smiled.

"Huh?" Erika looked around at them.

"The conditions should be perfect then, the surface would have leached a fine layer of oil, it'll make it easier!" Hoshino looked at Satoko who nodded.

"It's all yours Tsuchiya, give her all you've got, today is the day!" Satoko braced herself.

"Roger that!" Tsuchiya grinned as she accelerated the panzer.

"Perfect for what?" Erika and the Black Forest Peak girls were confused.

"You see, ever since we climbed in this thing, we've had our hearts set on trying it at least once… we're gonna drift the next corner!" Tsuchiya smiled up at them.

"Drift…" Erika blinked "You're kidding."

"Nope, hang on!" Satoko yelled as they hit the slick new asphalt and Tsuchiya brought one track to a complete halt as the other accelerated fully, spinning the tank sideways prior to reengaging the other, as the tank spun around they were all forced to the hull's wall before it accelerated forward again.

"YAHOOOO!" Tsuchiya cheered. "THAT WAS GREAT!"

"I think I know why we lost…" One of the Black Forest Peak girls was clearly afraid. "They're all crazy… slinging a panzer around like some sports car…" She looked at Erika whose face was paler than her hair.

"I think I'm gonna be sick… I need air!" Erika muttered before scrambling to get out of the Tiger P.

"Wait, don't, we're near some…" Satoko yelled as Erika pushed past her and popped the commander's hatch, pushing herself out into the open air.

"Ahhh… huh, AHHH!" Erika screamed as she was pulled out of the top.

"Vice Commander!" The Black Forest Peak girls scrambled after her as the tank shuddered and began filling with smoke.

"Looks like the tranny went…" Tsuchiya sighed as she began climbing out with the others.

"I told you not to…" Satoko looked at Erika who was dangling from a tree branch.

"Back the panzer up and help me!" Erika yelled.

"Just let go, it's only a short drop…" Tsuchiya sighed.

"And break an ankle, you're crazy!" Erika snapped at her.

"Then hook your foot over the branch and climb your way over to the tree, and get yourself down, we need to fix the transmission if we're going to continue searching." Suzuki looked at her "And I'd hurry if I were you that branch looks dead it could break."

Erika gaped at them as they began hopping off of the Tiger P and pulling out their tools to get at the transmission, as the team from Black Forest Peak tried to ventilate the interior and put out the small engine fire.

Erika glared as she hooked her feet around the branch and began shimmying her way down it "I don't believe this… they can't spare three seconds to help me down so we can keep searching… annoying little… AHH!" The sharp crack of the branch caught her attention and she jumped, grabbing for whatever was nearest as the dead branch gave way and grasped what looked like the end of a pipe before coming down hard on something.

"Vice Commander!" the Black Forest Peak girls yelled as they ran over to check on her.

"Uhh…" Erika blinked as she found herself dangling half on and half off of something. "What's with this pipe…it's…" She pulled herself up on the angled surface, and found herself looking down the massive bore of a gun.

"No way…" One of the girls yelled as the camouflage net ripped a little, revealing the light tan paint that had faded over time of the massive panzer. "It's a Strumtiger!"

Xxx

"Wha… Erika found a Strumtiger!?" Maho gaped.

Saori nodded "Yeah, so that makes us the only ones who haven't found something yet."

"Wait Anteater team found something too!?" Yukari gaped.

"Yes, they showed up unannounced, apparently their radio blew a fuse… they found a Type 62 light tank." Saori nodded.

"Its getting dark, we don't have any lights, so it'd be hard to get back if the sun sets on us…" Hana poked her head out of the hatch on the opposite side.

Miho nodded "Mako, we should turn around." She relayed over her mic.

"Understood… uhh…" Mako replied, causing Miho to glance inside.

"Mako!" Saori yelled as she shook her, the Pz IV Ausf. H accelerated at high speed.

"What's going on?" Maho stuck her head inside.

"Mako has low blood pressure… she falls asleep easily…" Miho looked up at her.

"Get her out of that seat then, we're about to…" Maho leapt into the tank and pulled the hatch shut just as a defining crash echoed around them, they all lurched forward as the Pz IV came to an abrupt halt. "…crash…"

"Uhh…" Mako straightened herself up. "Sorry…"

"Everyone's all right?" Miho looked around.

"We crashed into some garage…" Maho looked at her before pushing the hatch open, the clatter of some wood echoed as it fell away. "Owww!" She yelped as she stuck her head out.

"Maho!" Miho looked up at her sister, who had abruptly ducked back into the tank and was rubbing her head.

"I hit my head on something…" Maho grimaced.

"Not just something!" Yukari grinned "You got bopped on the head by a Lion!"

Maho blinked as she climbed out of the side hatch following Yukari, as the others climbed out to see that they had collided headlong with a massive panzer.

"A VK 7201!" Maho blinked as she saw it.

"Otherwise known as the Löwe, or Lion." Yukari grinned. As she looked under the long barrel at Maho, who had cracked her head on it when she stuck her head out of the commanders hatch too quickly.

Miho looked around and saw a light switch near the door to the garage, she jumped off and ran over flicking it on and they gasped as the lights flickered to life revealing the garage around them. An old Japanese flag hanging over the seven Olympic rings with two long rows of various panzers in either direction.

"We found the Olympic garage…" Hana blinked as she looked around. "An M46… the Lion… a Leopard 1…"

"An M24 Chaffee, A Conqueror, An AMX 50 Foch…" Yukari was drooling as she looked around.

"A T-54, SU-122-54…" Mako looked around at them "…and a Type 59."

"A pair of AMX 13 75's." Miho blinked noticing her sister who was on the floor next to the Pz IV looking at the track.

"We hit the jackpot…" Yukari cheered.

"Save the cheering, how are we getting back to the school?" Mako looked around at them. "The lead is bent, we can't take the Pz IV and I'm willing to bet all of these tanks haven't moved in over thirty years, and probably all have congealed oil and bad petrol."

"I've got it, we'll take the Leopard 1! It should run from the looks of it… and we can siphon the gas from the Pz IV!" Yukari looked over at it.

"What about congealed oil don't you get, it's probably turned to dust by now… if we run it there's a chance the engine could cease up." Mako looked at her.

"We can take the oil from the Pz IV too… besides even if the gas has broken down, the Leopard 1's MTU MB 838 CaM 500 was a multi fuel engine. It could run on kerosene if we put it in it." Yukari smiled "What do you say Miho, we can pick up the Pz IV tomorrow with the others?"

"All right, how are we going to drive at night?" Mako looked at her.

"The Leopard 1 has passive light intensifiers for the commander and driver's hatches, we could drive by starlight!" Yukari smiled. "Besides it's not like you sleep at night anyway Mako…"

Mako glared at her "Fine…" She looked at Miho. "It's your call Miho… do you want to try driving it back?"

"We kinda have to… we're out of radio range of the school, and the others were all back already…" Saori looked at her.

"What about your cell?" Hana asked.

"Its battery is dead… we were out of radio range a long time ago…" Saori sighed. "Sorry Miho…"

"It's fine… besides I think it'll work, don't you Maho, we'll just have to idle the engine for a bit to make sure the oil is flowing." Miho looked at her sister who sighed.

"You're pushing it, I doubt it'll even start… it probably needs overhauled." Maho sighed as Mako entered the tank to get familiar with the controls.

Xxx

"It's getting late… the sun's already setting…" Kay looked over at Anzu "Anji where is Miho's team?"

"Not sure, we haven't received any transmissions back for a while…" Anzu looked around at the others who began to look worried.

"We'll form search parties, everyone get ready to…" The low rumble of thunder caught their attention as rain began to fall with the last rays of sunlight disappearing the night became pitch black.

Ami looked around at them "No, everyone stay here I'll go and search, I don't want anyone getting hurt in this kind of a situation."

"We have to!" One of the girls from Black Forest Peak ran over. "Commander Maho is with that team!"

The flash of lightning illuminated the scene and briefly the aggressive image of a machine appeared, that crashed through the trees near them, with the crash of the thunder that followed.

"AHHHH!" All of the girls screamed as they ran, the low roar of its engine echoed off of the buildings.

"That's a…" Ami blinked while the terrified girls hid near their tanks as it slowed to a halt and was lit up to them fully by the light of the garage.

"Leopard 1 main battle tank…" Darjeeling blinked seeing it as the rain began to come down harder, diluting her tea in the process.

The commanders hatch opened and Miho stuck her head out "Sorry if we worried everyone!" She climbed out as the engine was shut down.

Maho was the next out. "You won't believe what we found…"

"Another Strumtiger?" Erika looked at her.

"No… the garage they housed the Olympic panzers in for the Japanese team, it's loaded with them!" Yukari grinned as she pulled herself out "Maho you should get your head looked at, you were fussing with it the whole way back."

"I'm fine…" Maho glared at her.

"You cracked your head on the barrel of a VK 7201 Lion trying to get out of the commander's hatch…" Mako looked at her.

"Where's the Pz IV?" Ami asked looking at the girls.

"Well, we sort of crashed through the garage door… and it hit the Lion head on… its lead was damaged so it needs a pickup…" Yukari grimaced a little.

"I hope everyone is all right then?" She looked over at Maho who was absentmindedly rubbing her head again. "Maho… you should get that looked at…"

"Ah…" Maho blinked. "Yes ma'am…"

The rain began to slow as the girls looked at the newest addition to the panzers they'd found. "Let's take this chance with the lull in the rain to get everyone home, we can take care of the panzers in the morning. It may be a weekend, but we need to get them all ready." Ami looked around at them. "Everyone get a good night's sleep and be safe."

"What are we supposed to do about a place to sleep?" Kay asked.

Ami looked around at the girls from the other schools "Partner up, there's about the same number, everyone take someone home with them for the night… if anyone's parents ask explain the situation."

Xxxxxx

And so we have many tanks... a ton of tanks… tones of tones of tanks…

*CRACK!*

"That was a bad joke…" Erika grimaced.

What didn't enjoy drifting in a Tiger P?

*WHACK!*

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" Erika belted Ald out of his chair.

"Erika… don't beat the writer up he's still recovering from Katyusha's assault…" Maho glanced over at her as she iced her head.

"YOU ALSO HURT MAHO!" Erika glared as she kicked Ald in the ribs. "AND EMBARRASSED ME!"

"But your favorite tank is in the story Erika… I wouldn't complain unless you want him to stick you in one of the AMX 13 75's…" Anzu grinned as Erika paled a lighter shade than her hair.

"He…he… HE WOULDN'T DARE!" Erika dove on Ald and began beating him senseless.

"Erika… don't kill him… we need him for the next chapter…" Miho looked at her.

"The likelihood of him putting you in one of the light tanks is remote anyway…" Maho looked at her.

"We'll just have to keep an eye on his writing through the next chapter then… won't we…" Erika gave him a death glare "GET TO WORK!"

Darjeeling smiled as she slipped into the seat Ald had been knocked out of "Well then, we'll see everyone next time… if Mr. Aldaeus is alive that is…"


	3. Chapter 3

Alright guys, here's the disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything with Girls Und Panzer's rights, though I do thank the creator of the series for how amazing it is.

As I said chapter 3 would have a small delay for editing, well its finally here! As always, please read, review, and enjoy the chapter.

*Tap*

What…?

"I'm tired of sitting here… you'd better write me in…" Shiho Nishizumi gave Ald a death glare.

Yeah… okay… you got it…

*SCRAMS!*

xxxxxx

Ch. 3

The Commander

"It just had to start raining again as we were half way here…" Miho shivered a little as she fumbled through her bag trying to find her keys while Maho stood next to her with droplets falling from her clothes. "Where are my keys?" She began emptying her bag.

"Miho…" Maho looked at her.

"Don't worry I'll find them soon…" Miho replied.

"Miho…" Maho pointed to the ground next to her and Miho looked there spotting the keys, then realizing that they'd fallen out of her pocket as she'd sat down to empty her bag.

"Ahh…" Miho grabbed them and hurriedly unlocked the door. "Please go inside and…" She paused as she noticed her sister gathering her stuff up for her before neatly tucking them back in her bag.

"You didn't have…" Miho stopped as her sister silently walked past her and into her small apartment. She entered and shut the door before locking it, flipping on the lights she smiled. "Sorry it's not all that big… but being here by myself, I didn't need much room…"

Maho sat Miho's bag down on the desk before walking over to the bed and sitting down. "This apartment doesn't even have a bath, does it…?"

"No, most apartments aboard the school ships don't have full baths in favor of a public bath…" Miho looked at her sister.

"It probably doesn't have a dryer either…" Maho stared blankly at the wall.

"No, there's a laundry room for the apartment complex downstairs…" Miho smiled.

"This place is pretty pathetic…" Maho muttered softly. "Does it even have a bathroom?" She looked at Miho.

"Yes…" Miho pointed to it. "Also, it may not have a bath, but it does have a single person shower… if you want you can go warm up…"

"I will then… what time do we get up?" Maho asked.

"Five…" Miho replied, causing her sister to blink a little. "It's just my normal routine…" She went over to the desk and pulled out the papers Maho had packed. "…leave your clothes on the top of the hamper, I'll run downstairs and put them in the dryer…"

Xxx

"Mom, dad I'm home!" Yukari called out to them and they entered the front area, which was a barbershop. "Sorry I'm late…" She paused as she saw her dad get on his knees.

"Thank you for being friends with our daughter!" Mr. Akiyama bowed down, causing Nonna and Katyusha to blink as Yukari went scarlet.

"It's so nice to meet more of Yukari's friends…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled at the two of them. "We kept worrying that she'd never make any with her obsession with panzers…"

"It's my fault!" Mr. Akiyama cried. "I shouldn't have treated her like a boy when she was little…"

"Dad!" Yukari's face was completely scarlet at this point as her parents continued to embarrass her.

"I like your parents…" Katyusha grinned as he continued bowing at her feet.

Nonna wrung her hair out a little trying to dry it. "Miss. Katyusha… we shouldn't…"

"Mom, dad these are two girls from Pravda, they're here because of the Sensha-Do team for the Olympics… teacher asked if we could host them…" Yukari looked at her mother who blinked.

"Sensha-Do was returned to the Olympics…" Mrs. Akiyama blinked and looked at them.

"Mom I hope you don't mind… if you…" Yukari looked at her seemingly in deep thought.

"It's fine, why don't you take them upstairs to freshen up, I'll be up with some tea in a bit." Mrs. Akiyama turned and hurriedly went back to the kitchen.

"What was that about?" Nonna looked at Yukari.

Mr. Akiyama got up. "I guess it startled her a bit…" He nodded and headed down a hallway towards the living room. "You haven't seen this before Yukari because your mom didn't want me to show it to you… back before she and I met, she went to Ooarai, before Sensha-Do was dropped." He pulled a dusty photo album off of the bookshelf and handed it to her. "Don't tell her I gave this to you…" He gave a wink to his daughter before turning and heading off down the hall again towards the room, which he turned into his bookkeeping office for the barbershop.

"What was that all about?" Katyusha blinked as Yukari cracked the album open and saw someone that looked a lot like herself smiling in the commander's hatch of the VK 7201 Lion they'd found.

"Mom…" Yukari glanced into the hallway and saw her mother's back as she continued to prepare snacks for them in the kitchen.

Nonna flipped the page "She was on the eighth Sensha-Do national champion team… and the 1972 Japanese Olympic team…"

They sat down around the coffee table and began flipping through the book, where they saw pictures of the 1972 Olympics, the Sensha-Do team and their battles.

"Oh I thought you girls went upstairs…" Mrs. Akiyama entered the doorway and froze seeing them flipping through the album.

"Mom!" Yukari tried to shut it and hide it.

"You're amazing ma'am… you were in the Olympics…" Katyusha looked at her a little awestruck.

"No… don't, please…" Mrs. Akiyama walked over and sat down the tray before taking the book from Yukari. "Don't look at this…" She turned and hurried her way out of the room before any questions could be asked.

"What was that about?" Nonna looked at Yukari.

"I don't know…" Yukari blinked. "Mom…" She called.

Mr. Akiyama stopped at the entrance of the room. "Let her relax for the rest of the night… it brought up some bad memories…" He continued on leaving the three puzzled girls alone.

Xxx

"Miss. Reizei I hope you don't mind us intruding…" Orange smiled as she looked up from the table while she poured Darjeeling some tea.

"Nope… just don't bother me in the morning, you remember the way to the school right?" Mako looked at them.

"I think I can get there…" Darjeeling looked at her.

"Good, leave without me in the morning, I'll be running a little late…" Mako shrugged.

"Is it something we can help with, perhaps we could get it done tonight instead…" Darjeeling looked at her.

"No, it's something I have to deal with, get your rest…" Mako turned in her chair. "The guest room is down the hall on the left, I'll be upstairs for a bit before I go to bed…"

Darjeeling and Orange blinked as Mako left the room and plodded her way upstairs.

Xxx

Kay glanced at Hana "You sure you don't mind us crashing with you?"

"No its fine… besides this place is pretty big just being only by myself…" Hana smiled at them.

"This place smells really…" Alisa looked around trying to figure it out. "Do you have like a thousand air fresheners plugged in or something?"

"No…" Hana smiled as she walked into the small dining room and they saw the tank shaped vase with a beautiful arrangement of flowers in it.

"Wow…" Naomi stopped chewing her gum for a moment as she saw it.

"That's pretty cool…" Kay bent down and got a closer look at the vase.

"Flower arranging is my family's tradition…" Hana smiled at them.

Xxx

"Why did I get stuck with you…" Anchovie glared at Midoriko.

"Because you were so rude to everyone else that no one would take you… or even let them near their houses…" Midoriko replied.

"And you're so kind because…" Anchovie sneered at her. "I sense this is some kind of sick plot from Anzu…"

"It is what was asked of me, and I carry out my duties because I am the head of the school morals committee!" Midoriko glared back at her. "If I wasn't, you'd be on the street tonight."

Xxx

Erika watched Saori as she cooked dinner for the girls from Black Forest Peak. "I don't trust her… she's too…"

"Erikarin, do you want soy sauce on your rice?" Saori asked, peaking over a potted plant at them sitting around the dining table.

"For the last time… MY NAME IS ERIKA!" Erika shouted glaring at the nickname she'd be given.

The younger girls watched as Saori came out of the kitchen. "Sorry for the wait, I'm not really used to cooking for so many… dig in!" She smiled as their jaws all dropped seeing the delicious spread before them.

"You fir…" Erika started and stopped once noticing that Saori wasn't there, but over at a mirror calmly removing her contact lenses before putting on a pair of red rimmed glasses.

"Sorry for keeping everyone waiting… how's it taste?" Saori beamed at the girls at the table.

"Great Miss. Saori, your boyfriend must be really lucky…" One of the girls from Black Forest Peak smiled at her before noticing Saori rocking back and forth huddled on the floor next to her chair.

Erika smirked. "Pretty pathetic if you ask me… someone like you can't even get a boyfriend…"

"Like you have one…" Saori pouted at Erika, causing her to gag before she realized she'd hit the nail on the head.

Xxx

Miho reentered her apartment with her sister's cleaned and dried clothes, she blinked as she noticed Maho looking around at her stuffed bears. "Sorry it took so long…"

"I don't mind… but I don't get why you decorated like this, it's a little macabre for you…" Maho looked at her.

Miho sat Maho's clothes down and walked over to her closet before beginning to get her pajamas out. "You should remember when I did that… it was just after it happened…" Miho looked at her sister. "I know you stood up to mom for me… but…"

"You really haven't changed one little bit…" Maho smiled as she patted her sister on the head. "You still have that picture from way back then?" She asked noticing a picture of Miho with three other girls from around six and a half years prior.

"I couldn't bring myself to throw it out… even though when I moved here I said I'd give up panzers." Miho pulled the picture from the small clip in the closet and she looked at her three friends from her elementary school, smiling after their first match which had been a friendly one against her older sister.

"In the end you chose a different path than myself… even though we both ended up at the same conclusion with Sensha-Do. You were right…" Maho smiled at her sister who blinked, her sister becoming more comfortable with her alone again and not in the shadow of their mother.

"You can have the bed, I'll use the…" Miho started.

"No, it's big enough for both of us… Besides I'm your guest right now anyway…" Maho nudged her over to the bed before they both climbed in and clicked the light off.

Xxx

Darjeeling cracked her eyes open as she noticed Mako making her way to bed finally, she waited a few minutes before getting up and slipping past Orange, who was sleeping peacefully. "Time for a little reconnaissance…" She glanced around the darkened hallway noticing the clock reading around four in the morning. She slipped upstairs as silently as she could.

Entering one room she noticed what looked like an old writing desk with a pair of trays, one labeled in and the other out. "What's this?" She picked up the top letter from the out. "Water Company… Electric…" She looked around and realized the writing desk had a calculator and several account books tucked into one of its slots.

She placed them down and left the room, slipping further down the hallway she smelt a faint whiff of incense and she peaked inside the room, it was empty save for a portrait on a pedestal next to the wall in a plane black frame.

She slipped inside and made her way over, seeing the remains of the incense stick that had burnt down she looked at the photograph, a couple in their thirties both with raven black hair, the woman bearing a slight resemblance to Mako. "She can't be all alone…"

"She's not…" A voice made her freeze before she felt a light tug on her nightgowns sleeve.

"Don't make a racket… I tell her to go to bed all the time but she insists." The elderly woman spoke calmly. "This is my son and his wife… Mako's parents. They died when she was in elementary school."

"You're her…" Darjeeling glanced at the elderly woman who was a head and a half shorter than herself.

"I am Hisako Reizei, Mako's grandmother." Hisako looked at Darjeeling. "We met at the finals… her parents would have been so proud of her, top of her class even if she is a night owl like her father…" She nudged Darjeeling out into the hallway. "I don't like it when she does the bills… but she is seemingly more and more worried about my health…"

"I don't understand…" Darjeeling looked at the elderly woman as the office's light clicked on, and she took a seat in the leather armchair at the desk. "Why does she…"

"Mako is a good girl… she's very patient with me, and tries to keep me happy and comfortable, bearing the burden I put on her in place of her parents…" Hisako looked at the photograph on the wall, the happy young girl with her parents. "They died in a car crash… right before it Mako had a fight with her mother… because of it I'm lucky to have her still… yet she blames herself she never got the chance to apologize."

Darjeeling looked at the photograph. "So, this is why she told us to go without her to the school?"

"She's not a "morning" person, but her friends come by to wake her up and get her to school on time most of the time…" Hisako looked at her. "On nights like this she's rather tough to get up, so don't be alarmed if you hear a cannon go off…"

"A cannon?" Darjeeling blinked.

"That friend of hers, Miho, brought their Pz IV one day and they fired off a blank next to the house when Saori couldn't get her up for morning practice." Hisako chuckled as she remembered hearing the story from Saori. "Like her mother she has low blood pressure, so she isn't really active in the morning or early afternoon…"

"I should get to bed…" Darjeeling looked at her.

"What for, you'll be woken up by the rumble of a tank soon enough… Saori normally shows up around five thirty…"

Xxx

The alarm went off and as if on cue Maho tumbled out of bed as Miho fell over her, groping for the alarm clock before finally clicking it off. The first rays of sunlight poked through the curtains on the new day.

"Does it really take you this long to get to school?" Maho asked as she rubbed her eyes, Miho began hurrying around the apartment gathering her things.

"Hopefully we're lucky today… if we are, we'll just wait around for the others to get there…" Miho smiled as she got dressed in her uniform.

"Why would you need to go to school over three hours early? Do you do morning drills or something daily?" Maho looked at her.

"If getting all of my team to school on time counts as drills…" Miho smiled, causing Maho to blink a little puzzled.

Xxx

Darjeeling sipped on some tea as Orange stumbled into the breakfast nook where she and Hisako were. "Good morning Orange dear…" Darjeeling smiled as Orange looked rather disheveled and still rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

"Why are you…?" Orange blinked seeing her.

"Just got up early today…" Darjeeling smiled as she held out a cup for orange.

A soft knock came at the front door. "Pardon the intrusion…" Saori entered and peaked her head in, noticing Darjeeling and Orange sitting with Hisako.

"Give her hell Saori." Hisako smiled at her as she waited for it.

"MAKO!" Saori yelled as she entered her room.

"Uhh…" A faint groan could be heard.

"COME ON MAKO!" Saori yelled again.

"Is she always like this in the morning…" Orange blinked.

Saori rounded the corner a few moments later. "How late was she…"

"Four…" Darjeeling looked at her.

"It's going to be this kind of morning…" Saori sighed, causing Erika and the girls from Black Forest Peak to blink at her as she fished out her phone from her bag. "Miho… We need it…"

"What about…" Erika started before a morning reveille could be heard from outside.

"Almost never works… Morning Yukari!" Saori called as Yukari entered from down the hallway.

"Sorry for the intrusion…" Yukari bowed slightly to Hisako.

"Why is everyone going through so much effort just to get her up early, if she doesn't want to wake up then let her sleep till she has to leave…" Katyusha yawned from the top of Nonna's shoulders.

"Once Mako was so deep in the red that she was on a razor thin margin from not passing the grade on attendance, even though she has the top marks…But We were given a massive attendance credit reward from winning the nationals, so she's clear now…Though even if at the present she's isn't in danger of losing a whole year, we want to make sure that she won't go to the red again, so we decided to continue helping her." Yukari looked at them and then turn her head up while scratching it in thought. "But I still don't get how she went to white, even with the attendance bonus from the nationals, it should still have some attendance points problems…strange."

Saori went back past Nonna to Mako's room again. "Mako come on you're going to be late!"

The house began to shake slightly as the teacups on the table rattled against their saucers. "What's going…"

"Ears…" Hisako smiled as she stuck her fingers in her ears just as the house stopped shaking, and a tremendous explosion made all of them jump.

"WHAT THE!?" Several of the girls jumped out of their skin now completely wide awake.

"Bigger panzer this time huh…" Yukari blinked. "I wonder which…"

"Don't worry it's just a blank!" Miho yelled as the house shuddered again from the rumble of the engine.

All of the girls quickly made their way outside to see Miho, Hana and Maho, all of them with the Leopard 1. "Good morning…" Miho and Hana smiled at them.

"If man was intended to see this hour of day… we…" Mako yawned before turning to go back to her bed prior to being blocked by Yukari and Saori.

"Oh no you don't, we're going to school." Saori grabbed her as Yukari grabbed Mako's uniform.

All of the girls from the other schools blinked as they tossed Mako into the Leopard 1. "How are we supposed to all…" Katyusha begun before the ground started to shake a little as the Porsche Tiger rounded the corner and came to a halt right behind the Leopard 1.

"Yo!" Satoko smiled as she waved to Miho.

"Oh hell no!" Erika yelled as she and half of the girls from Black Forest Peak scrambled for the Leopard 1.

Maho blinked at them "What's with you guys?"

"There is no way in hell you're getting me in a panzer with them ever again!" Erika pointed at them. "They thought it would be a "cool" idea to drift that Porsche Tiger and nearly killed us in the process of doing it!"

"No way, you guys actually got the Tiger P to drift…?" Yukari blinked at them from her spot on the Leopard 1.

"Yeah it was awesome!" Tsuchiya grinned from the drivers hatch. "We burnt up the transmission in the process, but it was totally worth it!"

Miho giggled a little. "I'm still surprised by the things our school does with its panzers…"

"Last night I was browsing the net and saw a really awesome vid of a Leopard 1 drifting one eighty on some mud to change directions in a hurry, it was crazy, the whole thing whipped around on a dime!" Satoko smiled at Miho. "Since it rained so much last night, we could take a detour on the way to school and…"

"No that's okay, we have practice after classes anyway…" Miho smiled a little as well as dreading the thought of damaging the Leopard 1.

After everyone climbed onto the two panzers, they pulled out rumbling their way through the streets towards the school.

Both of the tanks rolled past the small convenience store, causing its door to open and the bell to ding repeatedly till they'd passed. They slowed as they came to a narrower area of the street.

"Wha…" A little girl stuck her head out of a second floor window. "Mommy, it's Commander Miho!"

"A Leopard 1 now Miho… did they lift the restrictions?" An elderly woman blinked in surprise and smiled.

"Sorry for all of the noise!" Miho apologized.

"The new tanks look cool mommy!" The little girl looked at her mother.

"Was what they said on the news true? Did they really bring back Sensha-Do to the Olympics?" The woman asked from behind her daughter.

"Train hard Commander, we're counting on you more than ever, we know you'll do your best, so good luck!" Their neighbor cheered as they passed.

"Thank you very much!" Miho cheered back at them.

"They treat you like you're some kind of hero or something…" Erika glared at Miho.

The hatch in front of her spot on the rear of the turret popped open. "That's because she sort of is to the school… Miporin." Saori smiled at Miho.

"I…" Miho turned a little red. "I'm really not, we all won…"

"Because you led us." Yukari popped her head out of the hatch with Saori now sitting on its edge.

The two tanks rounded the corner onto a larger main street heading for the school, where they met up with droves of their classmates going to the school. "It's Commander Miho!" A freshman cheered and suddenly droves of them were waving and cheering to her.

"I still don't see why, the team did all the work…" Erika looked at Saori. "Not her…"

"Miporin led us, without her; we would have lost in the first round. And because we won the nationals… our school wasn't shut down." Saori replied, causing Maho and Erika to both look at her.

"Maybe you do deserve some praise…" Erika grimaced a little.

"Really… with the Leopard 1 this time?" A voice called out as the tank slowed to a halt and they saw Midoriko with her hand braced on her hip holding a tablet PC, as Miho and the others climbed off of the tank. "You should let Mako drag herself to school, maybe she'd learn to go to sleep…"

"Oh come on, don't be that way Sodoko…" Mako staggered her way over and hugged Midoriko.

"I SAID DON'T CALL ME THAT!" Midoriko snapped as Mako kept clinging to her.

Anchovie couldn't resist laughing at the sight of the overly serious host she had the night prior, now being pestered by one of her classmates. "This is priceless!"

"Duce Anchovie!" A girl's voice called out and they saw Anzio's second in command, Carpaccio, stepping out of a taxi. "I came as soon as I could."

"It took you long enough Carpaccio!" Anchovie glared at her second in command.

"My sincere apologies Duce!" Carpaccio bowed to the much shorter Anchovie.

The school's bells chimed and Midoriko looked at them "It's time to get to class, hurry up." She nodded through the gate as they quickly made their way through.

"What about us? What are we supposed to do all day?" Katyusha asked.

"It should be obvious…" Momo looked at them. "It was decided when you came here that you would be attending classes here for the term, until the Olympic Games are over."

"WHAT!?" Erika gaped. "With…" She glanced over at Anchovie, who seemingly was ready to lunge for Momo at the thought of being anywhere near the same classroom Anzu would be in.

"Everyone just relax…" Kay stepped forward. "C'mon Chiyomi, can't you just relax for a bi…" She dodged a swipe from Anchovie aimed directly at grabbing her hair.

"Show me some respect you airhead!" Anchovie snapped. "You're no different than that time we faced each other our freshman year, you're too laid back and…"

"You're still too stressed…" Anzu looked at her. "Chiyomi, we used to be friends in middle school, can't you just let it go?"

"You would never take practice seriously… you'd always blow it off to go hang out with whatever boyfriend you had that week!" Anchovie pointed at Kay directly. "And you would do nothing the entire time and just sit back, while I commanded the tank and relayed messages during training matches!"

"Most primary schools don't have tanks, or Sensha-do in their curriculum… wait… you three went to school together?" Miho blinked at the three of them.

"Yeah, back then we hung out all the time… until we wound up picking different schools because of that argument… Anji and I patched things up pretty quickly… but…" Kay shrugged. "Chiyomi here is still too uptight…"

"Would you just relax… and if we don't get to class, we'll wind up in trouble…" Maho butted in as she gestured to the clock while the bell chimed, all of the girls from Black Forest Peak except for her and Erika had already gone inside with Midoriko and the others.

Anchovie glared. "Come on Carpaccio!" She made her way past Kay and Anzu through the gates. "Maho, I'm surprised you're taking their side…"

"Because we need to work as a team, if we're going to win." Maho looked at her and Carpaccio.

Darjeeling looked over at them. "As the Americans say, burying the hatchet would be the most honorable thing to do in this case."

Anchovie looked at them. "We're late for class."

"I'm the president… I can find some reason for them to overlook it…" Anzu looked at her.

"C'mon Chiyomi…" Kay smiled at her. "We all want to win fair and square here… and if everyone isn't on the same page, we can't do that."

Anchovie looked at the two of them and sighed, "I'll think about it…" She turned and walked off with Carpaccio following her.

Xxx

Miho smiled as she entered the garage, where the tanks that they had recovered were. The massive Lion towering next to the PzIV, which had been recovered along with the others. "It's strange…" A voice called out causing her to jump only to see Ami walking over. "I never knew one existed… I thought it never reached the prototype stage… and yet here it sits… the VK 7201 Lion."

"That's because it shouldn't exist… the only reason it does, is because we didn't have the money to buy the few remaining post war German tanks most of the allies snatched up." A cold voice spoke from outside, causing Miho to jump seeing her mother, Shiho.

"Thank you for coming Commander Nishizumi…" Ami bowed politely to her.

"What do you mean it shouldn't exist?" Miho asked a little puzzled.

Shiho sighed as she entered the garage and looked at it. "Our economy hit a small slump when the limit was raised from 1945 to 1970… we were able to convince some of our allies and the JSDF to lend us some panzers for our Olympic team… and what did we get from Germany… but some outdated prototypes, blueprints, and one brand new Leopard 1A1 main battle tank…"

"How do you know th…" Miho blinked before Shiho patted her daughter on the head silencing her.

"Because back then I was around your age… and I was part of the team that drove these tanks." Shiho looked at the Leopard 1A1. "The only ones we were able to get our hands on were either scrapped prototype tanks, or blueprints to build our own… which was cheaper to do than to import the massive tanks... it's the only one of its type in existence, it was replaced by the Maus before any prototypes could be built."

"I looked through the records, we received the remains of the second Maus prototype that had been destroyed and rebuilt it." Ami looked at her. "But the others…"

"The IS-8 or T-10 heavy tank was a captured prize the Americans gave us from the Korean War. They also gave us the use of one M103, which had been badly damaged. We purchased one of the T95 Motorized Gun Carriages that had been sold for scrap and imported it, which ate up most of our budget." Shiho looked around at them as she meandered through the garage with her daughter following her. "The Conqueror was a gift from the United Kingdom that they sent with a nice set of tea sitting on the commander's seat."

"Miho are you…" Yukari called out as she entered the garage.

"I'm over here…" Miho trailed off as she noticed why Yukari had stopped. There, standing in front of the VK 7201, was Yukari's mother. She blinked as Shiho walked past her, and Mrs. Akiyama turned to face her.

"Shiho…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at her.

Shiho looked at her. "Miho… it's been almost forty years…"

"I'm sorry… really I…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho.

"Let's not drag up the past…" Shiho narrowed her gaze at her, before looking at Yukari.

"You called mother?" Miho made her way over to Shiho.

"No… I was talking with her… Yoshiko Akiyama… Miho was her nickname back then." Shiho gestured to Mrs. Akiyama.

"Mom…" Yukari walked over to her and both pairs faced each other. "What's…"

"Our daughters are a lot alike us…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho."…though… Miho is more like you were back then, before you took over the Nishizumi style… no, even after that you were the same… it was because of…"

"Will you leave him out of this for once!" Shiho snapped at Mrs. Akiyama.

Miho and Yukari blinked at them, now utterly confused as to what was going on.

"Sorry I took so long to get here dear…" Mr. Akiyama rounded the corner of the door to the garage before freezing from seeing Shiho and his wife. "Uhh…"

Shiho took a deep breath. "It's been some time Akiyama..."

"Uhh…" Mr. Akiyama grimaced. "Yeah…" He chuckled lightly scratching his head.

"Get over it, will you, it's been over forty years…" Shiho glared at him.

"Yeah, I guess you're right…" Mr. Akiyama ran his hand through his hair. "No point in dredging up bad memories, right…?"

"Mom…" Yukari prodded her. "You…"

"Shiho…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled at her. "I do have to thank you… because if you hadn't broken up with my husband… I wouldn't have Yukari now…"

Shiho sighed. "I told you not to dredge up the past…"

Miho and Yukari both glanced at each other and blinked. "Wait… dad…" Yukari looked at her father.

"When I was young I went out with Shiho… we broke up before the last match of the Olympics… we were what thirteen…?"

Shiho glared at him. "You always were that ignorant… asking a woman her age… let alone in front of your own wife."

"Because of the bad blood between us over that breakup, because of me… we wound up taking silver against the West German team, since we refused to talk with each other..." Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho.

"Mom you…" Yukari looked at her.

"Yes, I was the commander of our Olympic team, after having beaten Shiho in the nationals that year." Mrs. Akiyama smiled before she turned to look at the VK 7201 again. "And Old Fritz, was our flag tank." She placed her hand on its front plate, running her fingers along the weld where the upper and lower plates met.

"I wanted it to be the Maus… but you disagreed saying the Maus would get bogged down, and would become a sitting duck." Shiho looked at her. "None of the other teams could penetrate its armor easily."

"You're wrong… your daughter proved that it could be beaten. With rather creative tactics it can be beaten… all the other team would have had to do is get above it and get its turret out of the way." Mrs. Akiyama looked at her "We faced West Germany in the final match, their team was made up of primarily M26 Pershing's and the new Leopard 1A1 main battle tanks… however they also had the few remaining Jagdtigers at that time, which they had placed on high ground overlooking the battle. The Maus was rendered useless as it was disabled on soft ground, where it was then taken out by three shots from the Jagdtigers."

"And what about the Lion then? It was taken out last… you did nothing to help any of the other tanks." Shiho glared at her.

"I used Fritz's gun to its fullest potential at maximum range to take out the majority of the enemy Leopard 1A1's."

"Which because of that you mistook my tank as one of theirs!" Shiho snapped back at her. "Because of that we lost!"

Mrs. Akiyama stood there looking at Shiho "I told you it wasn't my shot back then… it wasn't. I would never purposely take out my own team!"

Ami let out a light cough causing them to look, noticing the other girls that had been selected to make up the new Olympic team standing there with Mr. Akiyama listening to the argument. "I think we can solve this problem…" She held up an old VHS video tape. "This is the recording of the final match…"

Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho. "You can watch it if you want… see for yourself. The shot that hit your tank wasn't intentionally fired at it from Fritz's gun… I watched it hundreds of times to make sure I wasn't wrong. That I hadn't shot my own friend's tank!"

"Fine then, play it, it won't change a thing." Shiho glared at her.

As the garage doors closed, an old VCR was hooked up to a projector and it was brought up on the doors for them all to watch.

The lights in the garage were turned off as the projector came alive. "Wow…" one of the young girls from Black Forest Peak gasped as they saw the introduction of the match.

"Sensha-Do Finals of the 1972 Summer Olympic Games, Federal Republic of Germany VS Japan." The judges announced in English before being read again in French.

"Wait, why is Yukari there?" Saori blinked seeing the girl in the center of the commanders of the Japanese team.

Miho blinked as she looked over at Maho. "Mother looked a lot like you…"

"Captains, forward." The judges announced and the two heads of the teams stepped forward.

"Hey, she looks a lot like that one friend of yours Miho…" Maho pointed to the girl who was the West German captain.

Miho turned and blinked. "Wait…"

"I hope for a fair match…" The girl with auburn hair in a pair of thin twin tails smiled at the younger Mrs. Akiyama.

"I'm looking forward to it…" Mrs. Akiyama replied to the girl.

"She was older than us… she actually participated in the games three times prior… after these games she stopped, and she ended up marrying and had a son, I was actually invited to his wedding here in Japan…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at her.

"You should recognize her Maho… you met her at the Summer Sensha-Do festival, and defeated her eldest granddaughter." Shiho looked at her.

"She looks a lot like Emi…" Miho blinked.

"Its funny… you know her name Miho…" Mrs. Akiyama patted her on the head.

"No, that was the name of one of my childhood friends…" Miho looked at her "Emi Nakasuka, she returned to Germany with her family when we were still in elementary school…"

The rumble of engines caught their attention as they watched the tanks begin to move out towards their starting positions for the match.

Unlike other matches getting a top down view the screen split showing multiple points of the battle, as a flair burst high in the sky they watched the two teams begin the engagement. The German team was the first to make its move. A Kanonenjagdpanzer opened fire on the Tiger P, sending a 90mm shell into the rear of the long tank and instantly sparking an engine fire, disabling it.

"Poor Leopon…" Tsuchiya sighed. "So, that's why I had to rebuild the engine when we found it…"

A loud bang caused all of them to jump prior to realize that it had been a cannon going off that had struck the side of the Kanonenjagdpanzer, causing it to rock upwards onto one track before coming back down and knocked out of the fight.

"And that was Bob…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled.

"Bob?" Kay asked as the crowd cheered over the speakers, before the rumble of the tracks plodding along revealed what had knocked the Kanonenjagdpanzer out, the T95 Gun Motor Carriage's 105mm cannon as it slowly made its way for cover, in order to make itself harder to take out.

"Bob was an interesting machine… he really wasn't meant to take on other tanks but to take on heavy fortifications, so we decided to use its firepower to our advantage, as well as putting it in a place where it would be difficult for the other team to get it out into the open, where they could get around his armor."

"How much armor does it have?" Alisa asked as she looked over.

"It has 300mm of frontal armor, roughly a foot of steel, its sides are protected by a thin layer of armor but that is compensated for by the two tracks on either side, acting similar to how spaced armor does on other tanks. But if you get behind him…" Mrs. Akiyama pointed just as a Leopard 1A1 erupted out of the trees and got around the T95 without any problems, firing one shot into its engine and knocking it out.

"The engine had a lot of problems… it was really over exerted and would have mechanical problems... it's the same engine they used in the M4 Sherman." Shiho sighed as she looked at it. "Because of that, it had problems crossing difficult terrain, and we couldn't take it across any bridges because it would become dead weight."

"After it!" A girl's voice shouted as the two AMX 13 75s charged the Leopard 1A1 that had taken out the T95.

They watched as the two light tanks seemingly drifted around it as they fired, the first salvo struck the right track breaking it, while they circled wide around the front of the disabled T95 in opposite direction the Leopard locked onto one and fired, the shot narrowly missing the small vehicle prior to a loud bang erupted as the Leopard slid on the soft ground slightly and struck the rear of the T95, before its flag deployed.

"Good work, commence the attack!" The younger Shiho ordered from her spot in the hatch of the Leopard 1A1 of the Japanese team. The Maus began rolling forward slowly past the Leopard and joined in the advance towards a group of three opposing M48 Patton tanks.

The three Patton's coordinated their fire on the Maus, trying to destroy one of its tracks only to have shots ricochet off of the behemoth.

"Fire!" Shiho gave the order and all of the grouped tanks unleashed a barrage into the three M48 Pattons. Instantaneously all of their flags popped out of the small hatches on the Pattons.

The two AMX 13 75s charged out into the field towards two Leopard 1A1s that had attempted to come to the rescue of the M48s. As the two Leopard 1A1s fired at the smaller tanks, they avoided the shells using serpentine movements as they closed.

The Maus turned its turret and fired at the Leopard on its left. The shell slammed into the turret and Shiho smiled knowing they would soon finish the other. As the smoke cleared a little, a shot erupted in return from the Leopard splitting the cloud of smoke before it slammed into the Maus' upper track shield, getting lodged in the thick steel. The Leopards advanced on them quickly picking up speed.

"Commander Shiho, we're going to be overrun!" The Maus' commander yelled over the frequency.

"Don't panic, take out the left one, we'll take the right!" Shiho ordered in return as the her Leopard 1A1 opened fire as the AMX 50 Foch also opened up, both shots striking the Leopard on the right and knocked it out of the fight.

As they began advancing again towards the remaining Leopard a loud bang caught Shiho's attention as the Maus slowly came to a stop, she realized why as they passed it, the shell that had gotten lodged in its armor had broken the track.

"We're immobilized!" The commander's voice yelled.

"Don't worry we'll…" Shiho started prior to three bangs echoed across the valley and before three simultaneous shots struck the side of the Maus' turret as it began targeting the Leopard that was going to pass Shiho's own. Turning around she saw what had fired, on the hill overlooking the field, and from where the battle had started in, were the three West German Jagdtigers.

The AMX 50 Foch slowed and began elevating its gun towards the distant targets, firing once the shot struck the dirt about twenty feet ahead of the Jagdtigers.

"Focus on the Leop…" Shiho started before she realized the enemy team's Leopard had passed them and was now aiming at the Foch.

The turret turned to face the Foch as it turned before three more bangs erupted from behind her and then she saw the Foch knocked out.

"All remaining units fall back!" A voice came over the frequency.

"Are you crazy, that's the enemy flag tank!" Shiho yelled back as she realized which Leopard 1 it was that they were fighting.

The two AMX 13 75s turned with Shiho's Leopard as they now gave chase to the enemy flag tank. All three tanks opened fire at the same time, all three shots struck around the Leopard 1A1 from the West German team.

"Your tactics were your end Shiho…" Mrs. Akiyama looked over at her.

"We had the enemy flag tank within range of taking it out." Shiho glared at her.

"But in the process of chasing it…" Mrs. Akiyama pointed to the movie again as a pair of shells struck one of the AMX 13 75s, sending it flying before crashing to the ground, breaking its suspension and knocking it out of the fight completely. "We lost more tanks than we could… the Lorraine attempted to come to the rescue, however as soon as it was spotted, the Jagdtigers took it out."

"And…" Shiho looked at her. "I get a shot on the Leopard 1 right… there." She pointed at the exact moment as her Leopard 1 fired, its shell slamming into the enemy flag tank's rear compartment.

"Yes, it damaged its transmission…" Mrs. Akiyama replied. "However…"

At that moment the West German flag tank turned its turret to face Shiho's tank and fired, putting a shot into the front plate of the tank as it picked up speed to close the distance even further.

"Shiho wait!" A voice yelled over the frequency.

"My tank doesn't matter as long as we win, if we break its tracks, it'll be a sitting duck!" Shiho yelled. "Ram it!"

The camera angle switched as the Lion climbed over the rise at the far end of the field and watched as Shiho's tank picked up speed to ram the enemy flag tank. "Get ready to support Shiho, take aim at the enemy flag tank!" The young Mrs. Akiyama ordered as the Lion's massive cannon adjusted its firing angle towards the West German flag tank.

The loud bang of Shiho's tank ramming the opposing flag tank echoed through the long valley like a tank's cannon going off, seemingly instantly the two tanks tracks broke as they slid to a halt.

"FIRE!" Mrs. Akiyama ordered and the Lion's massive 10.5 L/70 fired, its cannon sending a slight shockwave out with the shell as it left the barrel.

The shell tore through the West German flag tank's engine compartment and slammed into Shiho's tank.

"Did we…" Mrs. Akiyama looked as she grabbed some binoculars trying to see.

Three cracks came from the opposite side of the valley before she could see the shells struck the Lion and the pop of the small flag echoed behind her. "Ahh…" She righted herself from the front of the turret and looked down, three shells had slammed into the front of the Lion.

"End of match, victory, and first place goes to the Federal Republic of Germany!"

The camera angle switched to the West German flag tank which slowly pulled itself free from the disabled Leopard 1A1 that Shiho had commanded, before finally the tank stopped as smoke began billowing from the engine compartment.

Shiho looked at it. "You could have sent one of the other tanks…"

"None of them had the accuracy to hit a target at that range. We were just unlucky, if the shot had been a little further forward it would have been a direct hit on the engine and we would have won." Mrs. Akiyama looked at Shiho.

"Wow…" Katyusha blinked "That battle was…"

The girls on the current Olympic team were shocked. "Ooarai dropped Sensha-do twenty years later in 1992… because after that, with our defeat began its continuous losing streak for the remaining years up until it was dropped, on top of running into the financial crisis of the early 1990's that truly dealt the final blow for it coming back until last year."

"What about the 1976 Olympics?" Anchovie asked.

"We didn't even place… the USSR, France and the United States were the ones that medaled that year, and in 1980 it was dropped because of most nations not having the financial ability to send teams overseas." Shiho sighed before looking over at Mrs. Akiyama. "I apologize Miho…"

Mrs. Akiyama smiled. "I think you wanted to… why else would you name your daughter using my old nickname…"

"Because naming her after myself would be weird, when Maho looks more like me… and she had that same blank expression you would give me from time to time." Shiho looked at Mrs. Akiyama.

"Is that why you were so hard on Miho?" Maho prodded, causing Miho to look at her a little shocked.

"No… because seeing how much alike she was to my old friend… I knew she would have potential to lead, if she stepped out of our shadow, and found her own way." Shiho looked at Maho. "We'll stop talking about family matters now." She gave Maho a cold gaze.

"Have you figured out who would command the current Olympic team?" Mrs. Akiyama asked.

"Uhh…" The girls collectively paused.

"Commander Maho should lead!" One of the girls from Black Forest Peak spoke up.

"No way! Darjeeling should lead us!" Orange shot out of her seat and pointed at her.

"Hold up, Kay should lead we have mostly American Tanks, and we have the most experience with them!" Alisa snapped as the shouting began to build.

"HOLD IT!" Ami yelled causing them all to stop. "We'll solve this in a civilized manner… with a six way match with two tanks per team."

"Alright then!" Anchovie smiled. "We'll take the Lorraine and the AMX 50 Foch!" She and Carpaccio hurried over towards the two French vehicles with no Italian made tanks available. "They can't be too different…"

Kay smiled at Alisa and Naomi, who were already sitting on the T95 as she leaned against the M103. "We're taking these two…"

"The Strumtiger!" Erika turned around and looked at Maho. "Quick before someone else…" She started to point at the Leopard.

"Take the Porsche Tiger…" Maho pointed to it. "We need something with a turret that can help support it, also think about how easily the Leopard 1 was taken out..."

"Nonna, quick before they change their minds!" Katyusha pulled her along as they ran over to the T-10 and a T-62.

"Without question we're taking the Conqueror and Centurion." Darjeeling smiled as she sipped her tea from her place on the Centurion's turret.

Miho turned around and looked at Yukari and the other girls. "We'll take the Leopard 1A1…" Miho looked at it.

"Miho… we need something with more room it has a crew of four…" Saori looked at her.

"I know that…" Miho nodded and looked at Yukari. "Yukari… can you become a commander again? Like you did in the match against Anzio?"

Yukari blinked. "But…" She stopped as her mother patted her shoulder.

"I know you can do it, and I need your support…" Miho smiled at her.

"I get to pick any tank to take for our second then, right?" Yukari looked at her and she nodded.

Yukari looked around at the various machines. "There are so many… but…" She turned around to face the towering VK 7201 Lion. "I think we have the best shot with this one…"

"Uhh… I think we haven't gotten the Lion running yet…" Tsuchiya grimaced and looked at the others from the automotive club.

"Oh, that doesn't surprise me… Fritz was always temperamental… that's why he got that name, because he had a lot of problems…" Mrs. Akiyama smiled at it. "I remember when we finished building him… we wound up breaking the transmission pulling it out of the garage… then after that we wound up breaking both tracks trying to turn it on its axis and broke the crankshaft in the engine."

Yukari grimaced sensing that she'd gotten them the worst tank in the garage. "Is it really that problematic…?" She looked at her mother.

"Oh don't worry, Old Fritz is just a little touchy, with the right prodding he'll do what you want." Mrs. Akiyama smiled at her. "Why don't you see if he'll cooperate for you like he did for me…"

Tsuchiya gestured to the members of the automotive club. "We'll help, if he's that touchy then he'll be just like Leopon!"

Yukari climbed up the track and opened the driver's hatch before slipping inside. "Where is the…"

"It should be on the right side… I don't think it will, but…" Tsuchiya stuck her head inside the hatch.

Yukari blinked as she noticed a button. "Alright… come on… please work…" She closed her eyes and pushed it as she pushed the clutch in. The starter turned over as the whining groan of the engine turning over for the first time in nearly thirty years echoed through the garage as its new fluids finally freed it. The 1000 horsepower Maybach engine roared to life. The loud engine almost sounded like an actual lion's roar, causing several of the girls to jump back a little afraid of the massive machine.

Yukari vacated the seat as the others clambered into the tank, she opened the commander's hatch and carefully stuck her head out avoiding bumping it off of a block and tackle for a mechanical winch they used during maintenance to remove turrets. "Alright… wow this is high up…" Yukari looked around at the others.

Miho looked at Ami. "We're ready when you are."

"Alright, take up your positions, the battle begins on our signal." Ami smiled at them.

"Our?" Shiho looked over at her.

"It's why I asked you two to come here… I need more help to coach this team… and you both commanded the only Olympic team that medaled for our nation in Sensha-Do…" Ami looked at them.

Shiho looked at Mrs. Akiyama. "Looks like we don't have much choice in the matter, do we?"

"We have a chance to make up for our mistakes…" Mrs. Akiyama looked at Ami "Alright then."

Xxxxxx

Well that's it for this chapter, next time we get a six way match between the commanders! Which team will win?

*Crash!*

"Darjeeling!" Orange knocked Ald out of the way and began to write the chapter.

"Kay!" Alisa shouted as she leapt over the couch and proceeded to tackle Orange away from the computer.

"Anchovie!" Carpaccio now lunged for the laptop only to have it grabbed by Nonna.

"Katyusha will win!" Nonna began running away with it.

"No way! Maho will win for Black Forest Peak!" Erika grinned as Nonna found the laptop being torn from her grasp by a helicopter's winch and pulled out the window.

"NO WAY, I'M NOT LETTING YOU BEAT MIHO!" Yukari jumped from the top of the Lion used Nonna's shoulders as a springboard and grabbed hold of the laptop before falling into a tree with it.

"Well at least they're into it…" Kay grimaced a little.

"Go Carpaccio don't let them get it, we'll rewrite the first three chapters and we'll make ourselves the leads!" Anchovie cheered her second in command on.

Miho looked at Maho who just shrugged.

"Go get it Nonna!" Katyusha cheered on Nonna as they continued to fight trying to get at the Laptop which Yukari still had while keeping them at by from up the tree.

"Where are you going Mr. Aldaeus?" Darjeeling asked as she noticed him sneaking out of the room.

To write the chapter in peace… where I don't have six people trying to kill me for the computer… that version is only a remote access one via my laptop… the real version is on my desktop. And unlike the mess they'll write… my editor would work out the mess they try to sneak in around the actual plot…

"Carpaccio there's another computer GET TO IT QUICK!" Anchovie screamed as she heard it.

Oh hell no! *Runs for the stairs to the computer room!*

"Huh?" Nekota blinked as she looked up from the desktop seeing Ald dive into the room.

"Sup Ald?" Momoga blinked from the barstool she was sitting on near the TV.

Ald slammed the door shut and locked it as he braced himself against it.

They're trying to get the computer.

"But I'm using it to play WoT… tell them to bother me later…" Nekota brushed him off.

"Yeah we're trying to figure out the strategy for the open league series tournament this Friday… so tell them to bother us later…" Piyotan nodded.

I need it to write, they stole my laptop! And don't tell me you're one of those runt teams we've been trouncing?

"Can it run WoT?" Nekota looked at him.

At minimum settings, but yeah…

"Good enough… you just write us in and you have your desktop… by the way… nice T110E5…" Nekota smiled.

Crap I forgot to log out!?

"Don't worry we didn't mess with your clan or anything… well not much anyway…" Momoga grinned "Though I do think we kinda ticked off a few guys from your clan they want your head on a silver platter in this match we're in… and they keep telling you to get on TS…"

No it just sounds like a normal day… prioritize clan members on the opposite team because the majority of the time…

*Crash!*

"GET IT!" Orange yelled as they broke in the door sending Ald flying.


	4. Chapter 4

Alright guys, here's the disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything with Girls Und Panzer's rights, though I do thank the creator of the series for how amazing it is.

"We showed them! And now we have the writer!" Anchovie grinned as she kept Ald at his computer using the P-40's main gun to persuade him.

Come on, you really think you can keep me here at cannon point… the other story needs work too…

*PSHHHHHHHH!*

What the…

*FWABOOM!*

"WHAT!?" Anchovie gaped as the P-40's flag popped up.

"QUICK GRAB HIM!" A boy yelled as he pointed at Ald while holding an anti-armor LAWS rocket.

"Not so fast!" Erwin yelled as the Stug tore through a bush and fired sending a shot back at the attackers.

Ehh…

"Don't worry we have you Mr. Writer!" several girls from Black Forest Peak pulled him up onto the Jagdpanther "Okay let's go!"

The commander nodded "As always please read, and review the chapter, enjoy while we deal with the other cast!"

"THEY STOLE OUR HETZER!" Anzu yelled over the radio.

"WHAT!?" The commander spun and saw it coming after them at high speed.

xxxxxx

Chapter 4

A battle of Big Cats

The Leopard 1A1 slowed to a halt next to the VK 7201 and Miho popped the hatch as Yukari pulled herself up to look down to her. "So, what now?"

"There are a lot of possibilities right now." Miho paused as she pulled out the map of Ooarai's training field B. "The problem is with only two machines for each team… splitting apart leaves them exposed to attack from the other teams."

Xxx

"So what's the plan Kay?" Naomi asked as she familiarized herself with the gun sights of the T95's 105mm cannon.

Kay sat on top of the T95 near the commanders' hatch "I think I know what the others are thinking… they won't split up, it's too dangerous if we do, because we don't have the numbers to cover each other." She looked at the map for a moment. "We're here..."She gestured to the far north western corner of the training field. "We have a small forest to our direct south that cuts all the way to the southern most corner. Seeing as we don't know where any of the other teams starting positions are… I want to say there is one team there."

Xxx

"Assam darling, I need your opinion... when Orange gets back from recon, what do you think is our best course of action… seeing as we have these machines, they're drastically different from our Matildas, Churchills, and Crusaders." Darjeeling perused the layout of the terrain. "This field certainly suits Miho's strategies…"

Assam nodded. "I believe it would be wise to use the Conqueror's main gun to engage the other teams at long range. The M103 heavy tank being used by the Sanders team has the same gun, so it would be logical that they would choose the same tactic, however considering they have that motorized gun carriage T95... I believe they'll play the role of a mobile spotting unit."

Darjeeling sipped on her tea a little. "Not exactly the plan I thought you'd come up with… ah, here's Orange now."

Orange ran up the small embankment and caught her breath as she leaned on the tank's front. "Black Forest Peak's two tanks are to our east at the far side of the meadow, if we don't move they'll have clear shots on us!"

"What about our north?" Assam looked at her.

"Not sure, I didn't have a way of getting there without being spotted by the two from Black Forest Peak."

Xxx

"Commander, what do you suggest we do?" Erika looked at Maho from the Sturmtiger's commander's hatch.

"We'll pull back out of this meadow for now, and enter that forest to our west to wait to see, if any of our opponents show themselves, the Conqueror, M103, T95, and T-10 are all major concerns if they catch us out in the open." Maho looked at the map for a moment "But the real question is where they deployed Miho?"

Xxx

"Nonna, we need to make a move." Katyusha patted Nonna on the head as she sat on her shoulders.

Nonna glanced up at her. "Where would you suggest, we don't know where any of the other teams are?"

"We'll go diagonally across the map, we're sure to run into at least one team along the way." Katyusha looked at her.

"That's reckless…" Nonna let Katyusha down on the T-10 heavy tank. "We can't even be sure if we'll find another team without being spotted ourselves."

"We have to, or else someone will put us on the defensive!" Katyusha looked at her.

"Would Miho rush into an attack without thinking it through?" Nonna looked at her. "You know none of the others would either..." Nonna looked back at her as Katyusha paused pondering what she had said. "We can't do much with just two tanks…"

Xxx

"Carpaccio, who do you think is to our north?" Anchovie asked as she looked over at her from the hatch of the Lorraine 40t.

"I believe based on the reconnaissance reports that the team from Saunders is to our direct north through the forest." Carpaccio looked at her. "That places the T95 and M103 on that flank, to our east judging by the noise that we heard from that meadow, I'd say it's either Black Forest Peak or Ooarai's team there."

Anchovie paused looking into the woods to their left. "Kay is up there… she may be a flake, but she did have a point…" She looked over at Carpaccio. "We're going to advance north through the woods, before exposing our position I want to attempt to make contact with Kay, if we can get four machines on our side instead of just two, we'll have an advantage."

Carpaccio blinked. "But Duce that will mean…"

Anchovie sighed planted her hands on the turret and looked at her. "This isn't easy for me to admit, but she was right! We can't do this alone!"

Xxx

Miho blinked as she heard a low rumble from behind them. "Turn the turret now!" She ordered as the two tanks began to turn to face the incoming threat.

Yukari gulped as the cannon aimed at the area where a ridgeline jutted out, almost meeting the bend in the road. "Don't shoot until we have a clear shot." She ordered.

Miho blinked as the rumbling suddenly stopped. "Mako, keep us ready to move, if needed we'll draw the fire away from the Lion."

"Miho, we're loaded." Saori nudged her to let her know.

Yukari blinked as she saw a hint of movement from the edge of the ridgeline. "Wha…" She blinked as a white flag slowly was extended out.

Orange Pekoe poked her head out next. "I have a message from Commander Darjeeling, for Commander Miho, I'd like to deliver it if you'll let me…"

Miho looked at her. "Go ahead."

Orange stepped out and walked towards the two tanks, stopping a few feet ahead of them. "We'd like to offer a truce, there isn't much any of our teams can accomplish with just two tanks."

"A truce…" Yukari looked at her and Orange nodded.

"Darjeeling handed me this to give to you, Commander Miho." Orange walked forward and pushed herself up onto the Leopard 1 to hand her the letter.

Miho took it and unfolded it. "I have a feeling it would be best if we work together, your sister is to our south west in the meadow…" She paused. "Is Darjeeling sure about this?"

Orange blinked a little puzzled. "I don't know what she wrote in that letter…" She stopped as Miho handed it to her. "I will defer command to you Miho, with the terms that my team gets to use the British tanks during the Olympics, and are not split up."

"Orange, what's taking you so long?" Assam called out as she rounded the bend to see what was taking her so much time, only to see her on the verge of tears sitting on the Leopard 1. "What did you do to Orange!?" She snapped as she ran towards her.

"Assam, wait!" Orange tried to stop her as she began scrambling her way up the Leopard 1, heading right for Miho.

"You, what did you do to Orange, she's our friend what did you do to make her cry!?" Assam shook the rather stunned Miho by the collar.

"ASSAM!" Orange yelled latching onto her waist and pulling back, getting her off of Miho "Stop, it's not them…"

Assam looked at her. "Then what made you cry? I hadn't seen you like that since the day Darjeeling asked you to replace Nilgiri as our loader when she graduated."

Orange gave her the letter and Assam read through it. "Ah…"

The low rumble came again as the Conqueror and Centurion cautiously made their way around the edge of the corner. "Assam, Orange?" Darjeeling looked at the two of them, now in front of the Leopard with Miho climbing down as Assam struggled to hide her own tears.

Darjeeling quickly clambered out of the Conqueror's hatch and headed towards them. "What's wrong, did someone get hurt?!"

"Nothing's… wrong…" Assam stifled out as she continued to try to keep herself from crying.

"I accept your terms Darjeeling." Miho smiled at her and held out her hand.

Darjeeling took it and smiled, at that exact moment Assam began to let some tears slip down her cheeks as she smiled. Orange patted Assam lightly on the back as Darjeeling smiled at them.

"Commander, we're a little…" Another girl called out from the hatch of the Centurion before being drowned out by a tremendous roar as an explosion erupted from just above and behind the two British tanks, splintering the rocky face of the ridgeline.

"What in the!?" Yukari looked alarmed as they saw the smoke trail coming from the field.

"That was the Sturmtiger! It'll take a little bit to be reloaded, but if it hits any of our tanks we're finished!" Miho yelled. "We have to get to cover!" She scrambled for the Leopard 1 as Darjeeling, Assam, and Orange ran for the Conqueror and Centurion.

Xxx

"What was that?" Alisa asked as she stuck her head out of the hatch of the T95 and looked over at Kay who was in the commander's cupola of the M103 looking towards something across the lake to their south.

"It sounded like a rocket." Kay blinked. "That can only mean the Black Forest Peak team struck first with the Sturmtiger." She looked at Alisa.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter much, from what I saw it didn't exactly hit the target it was aiming for." Naomi opened the other hatch and looked up at Kay. "The Sturmtiger isn't exactly the most accurate weapon at range."

Alisa caught a hint of movement from the woods to their right. "What in the…"

"Buongiorno, I'd like to talk with Commander Kay if possible…" A girl called to them from next to a tree she was hugging tightly in case they decided to turn and go after her.

"Sure, what is it?" Kay looked at her a little puzzled.

"Duce Anchovie sent me to deliver a message." The girl cautiously made her way forward.

"It's probably a diversionary trick Kay!" Alisa yelled as the T95's engine started, causing the girl who had been approaching to freeze.

"Hold up!" Kay gestured to them. "I'll hear her out, so don't go shooting the messenger until she's delivered her message… besides…"

"We're possibly right now being surrounded by them and…" Alisa started.

"I have no intentions of surrounding you, if I did, then I wouldn't have sent a messenger." Anchovie stepped out from the tree line.

Kay blinked. "Then why did you come in person if…"

"I have no intention of letting you shoot at, or chase my subordinate." Anchovie looked at her.

Kay nodded. "Naomi, tell them to kill the engine. We'll talk."

Anchovie nodded as Kay pulled herself out of the M103's hatch and slid down the turret before hopping down to be face to face with her, on a nearly level plane. "Well, what is it Chiyomi?"

"I wanted to tell you that you're still an airheaded, ditzy, flirt who does everything on the spur of the moment." Anchovie looked at her causing Kay to blink. "But, at the same time I'm wrong. You're right, I can't do everything myself. If we want to win, we have to do it as a team. So…" She grimaced a bit as she held out her hand.

"To hell with that Chiyomi!" Kay looked at her, causing Anchovie to blink in shock before abruptly being pulled into a tight hug.

"I never said you could…" Anchovie struggled a little as Kay let her free.

"We all just want a fair fight… now tell me, is what Maho told me true that you used my picture for darts practice?" Kay prodded her a little.

Anchovie grimaced a little. "Uhh… yeah… Maho also kind of scared me when I launched into a rant about Miho…"

Kay grinned a little. "Yeah, she tries not to show it, but she's a little protective of her from what I've seen…"

Xxx

"Quick while they're distracted!" Katyusha looked at Nonna from the hatch of the T-10 as Nonna nodded back, the T-62 began moving and both quickly picked up speed as they darted out, heading southward along the edge of a tree line near the road.

Nonna glanced to her right. "Faster!" She yelled as Katyusha looked from the hatch of the T-10 and saw Alisa pointing at them, before the T95 fired. The 105mm cannon erupted sending a shell whizzing over the engine deck of the T-10 before causing a water spout to erupt in the lake to their left.

Xxx

"I missed!?" Naomi gaped a little in shock, and confused at the same time.

"It doesn't matter, get after them!" Alisa snapped as she looked down from the commander's hatch.

"Roger!" The driver replied as the engine rumbled to life again and the T95 began slowly but surely rolling forward.

"You try to cut them off Chiyomi!" Kay yelled over to Anchovie as she climbed back up to get back into the M103.

"Got it!" Anchovie replied as she ran back for the woods with the other girl from her crew that she'd sent.

Xxx

"What was that?" Orange blinked as she looked over at Darjeeling.

"It sounded like an American gun, probably Kay's team." Darjeeling replied as she opened the hatch and pulled up a set of binoculars.

"It came from across the lake." Yukari pointed through the trees they were hiding in towards the still dissipating ripples in the lake, and the cloud of dust that could be seen on the other side.

"It's Pravda!" Miho announced.

"Shall we respond?" Assam looked over at Darjeeling from the hatch of the Centurion.

Darjeeling looked over at Miho and Yukari. Miho shook her head. "We'll wait a little bit, if Kay gives chase we may have a better chance at knocking out the M103 and T95, which are larger threats at the moment."

Xxx

"Go Kay!" a girl from Saunders cheered as the M103 and T95 began chasing Pravda's two tanks.

"You can take them Miss. Katyusha!" A girl from Pravda yelled.

"Take them out Duce Anchovie!" Yet another girl cheered for her commander.

"They're all pretty loyal to their commanders…" Ami blinked. "This may be harder than I'd thought…"

"You planned to get them all to follow one leader, by having them being taken down in this little battle royal you put them in." Shiho watched from her seat. "It won't work, they don't know each other well enough."

"Perhaps not all of the girls, but the commanders know each other very well." Yoshiko smiled. "The girls haven't noticed yet… but their commanders are coming together slowly."

"I don't see how they could be?" Ami blinked as she looked at Yoshiko.

"Well look at where they are on the map…" Yoshiko gestured. "St. Gloriana and Ooarai are working together by waiting in an ambush after being fired upon by Black Forest Peak, and Anzio and Saunders are performing a pincer maneuver on Pravda at this exact moment, Saunders being the hammer and Anzio the anvil."

"So, the only two that aren't working as a team to win yet are Black Forest Peak and Pravda?" Ami asked a little loudly over the shouts of the girls watching the battle.

"Commander Maho would never work with that little tyrant!" A girl from Black Forest Peak shot out of her seat.

"How dare you say that about Miss. Katyusha!" A girl from Pravda snapped back.

"Your school uses nothing but dirty tactics to win! Like that time at the nationals two years ago!" A girl yelled back.

"Now hold on!" Another girl from Black Forest Peak got up. "Pravda didn't win because of dirty tactics, they won because of an accident out of our control."

"No, they won because Miho abandoned her post, because of a landslide they triggered!" The first girl snapped back.

"Then please point me to the weather control device Pravda owns, so they can control the rain and cause freak landslides." Another girl got up and joined in defending Pravda. "Commander Miho did what she had to, to save her own team's lives in that situation."

"Yeah, so what gives you the right to say our tactics are dirty!?" A girl from Pravda pointed at the girl from Black Forest Peak.

"Now wait…" A pair of girls got up from Pravda. "What we did wasn't exactly fair either… we did take advantage of the situation when their lives were in danger. What we should have done was postponed the match until it was truly safe for both of our teams."

Xxx

"Now!" Anchovie commanded and the Lorraine charged out of the woods just ahead of the T-10 and T-62. Spinning its turret around, it leveled its 100mm gun at the T-62 and fired.

Nonna's eyes shot wide as the second shot came, narrowly missing the T-10. "Quick keep Katyusha safe!" She ordered.

"Nonna don't!" Katyusha yelled as the T-62 picked up speed and quickly pulled ahead of the T-10 firing a shot in response, it struck the rear of the Lorraine damaging the track.

The third shot from the Lorraine came, striking the turret of the T-62 before they roared past it.

"Don't let them escape!" Anchovie yelled as the Lorraine began to turn to go after the two tanks.

"Duce we have three shots left in the clip!" The gunner looked up at her.

"Then use them to disable them, so Carpaccio can finish them off!" Anchovie pointed at the T-10.

"They're too low, we can't get the gun down far enough!" The gunner looked at her again.

"Turn and get moving, don't let them escape!" Anchovie ordered as she climbed down inside while the Lorraine began to turn, before a loud bang caused them all to jump.

"No…" The driver shook her head. "Please… no…" Two more loud bangs caused them to wince. "There go the air cored rubber tire road wheels."

Anchovie sighed. "Well looks like we're going nowhere…"

"Chiyomi, are you alright!?" Kay's voice came over the radio moments later.

"The Lorraine is disabled, some of the road wheels popped, we're not going to be able to move any time soon." Anchovie replied as she lifted the headset to her ear.

"We'll cover you while you get it repaired." Kay replied. "Since by the time we get there, Katyusha will be long gone."

Xxx

"This isn't exactly what I was hoping for…" Maho sighed as she looked at the map. "There was combat to our rear from the sound of where the cannons were firing. But we don't know who it was… Miho and Darjeeling could have pushed north after running from our initial shot and engaged one of the other teams."

"You think they're working together now?" Erika looked over at her from the Sturmtiger.

"I think Darjeeling and Miho are working together, why else would they run in the same direction instead of splitting to divide our fire?" Maho pulled herself up out of the commander's hatch of the Porsche Tiger and tried to get a better view through the woods.

"Commander!" Erika's gunner almost slid into the side of the Porsche Tiger.

"What is it?" Maho lowered her binoculars for a moment before the tremendous crash came as a tree fell, ripped up from its roots as the T-10 came to a halt directly to their rear.

"Turn to face them!" Erika snapped as the Sturmtiger's engine rumbled to life.

"Stop!" Nonna commanded as the T-62 ripped through a bush from the direction that the Sturmtiger's gunner had come from.

The hatch on the T-10 opened and Katyusha pushed herself up. "This is perfect, unless you want to be beaten outright like the finals again, surrender!" She pointed at Maho.

Maho looked at her. "You're kidding… I have a good hunch that you were chased into this forest, which means at least one team is right on your tail."

Katyusha grimaced. "That… That doesn't matter, you have two options, surrender, or be knocked out by our tanks!"

"Bring it you little tyrant!" Erika snapped at her.

"Erika, stop!" Maho ordered, before looking over at Nonna. "Instead, considering how we both know how Katyusha can be… And instead of arguing and getting nowhere before we're both destroyed, how about a compromise."

"What do you propose?" Nonna asked.

"Nonna!" Katyusha gaped at her.

"Let's hear them out…" Nonna looked at her.

"Miho and Darjeeling are working together..." Maho looked at her.

Nonna blinked as Katyusha stopped arguing with Erika. "Wait, how do you know this?"

"We fired on them and they both ran off north, that way." Maho gestured in the direction of the woods near the lake.

"There is a reason they chose to let each team have only two tanks… you can't do much with just two, and even less on your own." Nonna looked at Maho "Anchovie and Kay are working together as well. And chased us down from the other side of the lake."

"Then that leaves us…" Katyusha glared at Maho and Erika.

"Well, if we're going to have a chance against either side, we need to work together." Maho looked at Katyusha. "We're surrounded, unless Miho and Darjeeling decided to try to get behind Kay and Anchovie."

"We didn't see any movement from that direction, though unless they moved after we'd already passed Anchovie and disabled her." Nonna looked at Maho.

"She was driving the Lorraine 40t variant of the AMX 50 correct?" Maho asked and Nonna nodded. Maho climbed out of the hatch of the Porsche Tiger and descended down, passing the gunner who was still shaken up. "Take it easy Ritaiko, it's not like you're being chased around by that Hetzer anymore…"

"That little thing is a nightmare incarnate!" Ritaiko pouted a little.

"Just be glad she didn't blow the track off of the Sturmtiger, it's almost double the weight of the JagdPanther's." Maho smiled.

Katyusha busted out laughing. "I remember watching you during the finals, Ooarai's Hetzer kept sneaking up and tracking you over and over again!"

"I remember a certain tank not being able to take out the same tank before they converted it into that evil little monster!" Ritaiko pouted at Katyusha.

"If we can stop talking about the nationals… I think I have an idea of how we can get out of this mess…" Maho looked at the two of them.

Xxx

"We know three things…" Miho spread out the map on the ground between them. "Anchovie and Kay are across the lake. Maho is in the forest to our south, and Katyusha and Nonna were just chased into the same forest."

Darjeeling sipped on some tea. "We have a few options on how to respond…"

Miho nodded. "We could engage Kay and Anchovie from this side of the lake, and hope to takeout either the T95 or M103 while they repair the crippled Lorraine 40t."

"Or there's the other option…" Darjeeling looked southward towards the larger forest. "Maho, and Katyusha…"

"I can't see them cooperating… I'm surprised we haven't heard them trading shots yet…" Assam looked at the map.

"The woods are pretty large… there is a chance that Maho and Katyusha just haven't run into each other." Hana suggested.

"No, I think we're not seeing what's happened… Katyusha and Nonna were both moving at full speed, they had more than enough time to get through the woods and would have already popped out on this side." Yukari pointed at the map. "I think they've started working together like we and the others have. Bringing now the teams to three teams of four tanks each."

"Katyusha is rash some times, but Nonna is a good foil for her… Much like how Erika is for Maho." Darjeeling sat her tea down on the saucer before crouching down to the map "Knowing how your sister fights, and how Katyusha fights… if they pool theirknowledge, they know they're trapped between both of our forces. So they'll probably attempt something like you did with Pravda." She smiled.

"They're going to try to break through?" Yukari blinked.

"It makes sense… but they don't know where we are exactly…" Miho looked at her "We knew the locations of all of the enemy tanks back then, from the reconnaissance mission I sent Yukari and Erwin on."

"But they do know where the weak point is at this exact moment." Assam pointed at the Lorraine 40t hunkered behind the T95 aimed at the forest. "They're all focused on getting that one moving again. If they decided to break through Kay and Anchovie, it would almost be no contest. They may lose one tank while taking out possibly three from theirs."

"Well either way, they have to come from that direction, right?" Saori pointed southward.

Miho nodded "So I'm going to suggest we set up on the south western corner of this small patch of trees in an ambush, if Kay and Anchovie get their repairs done, they may try to push into the forest. If they do, we'll push in behind them. If Maho and Katyusha attack, we hit them from the side. If Maho and Katyusha attack us… we hope Kay and Anchovie don't take the opportunity to knock us both out of the battle."

Xxx

"Who the heck put the lug nuts on this thing?!" Alisa strained against a breaker bar trying to get it free.

"Probably one of Ooarai's mechanics… I think I remember hearing that they had to torsion them to the original testing specs, so they would perform the same." Kay looked over at her and Carpaccio as they continued changing the damaged road wheels.

"This is my fault…" Anchovie pouted as she sat next to Kay. "I exposed the Lorraine's tracks to being damaged, on top of letting Katyusha get away."

"It's not really all that big of a deal…" Kay patted her on the head. "Even if we had been able to catch up to get a shot, we still would have had to line them up. But none of our gunners are used to these tanks' guns yet, all of them are larger caliber than whatwe're used to. So for Pravda to have even hit you while on the move was pure luck on their part."

Anchovie looked up at her. "I think I could have done something more at least."

"Chiyomi relax, Darjeeling would probably say something like, it's all water under the bridge or something, but it really is." Kay smiled at her.

Xxx

"I think it's risky…" Ritaiko looked at the map.

"It should work though." Erika looked at her, then to Maho who nodded.

"All we have to do is disable one or two of Saunders' or Anzio's tanks. And hopefully it will draw Darjeeling and Miho out." Maho stood up.

"Are you sure the Porsche Tiger can handle them on its own?" Nonna asked.

"Its armor is good, but I don't think it can stand up for very long in an open fight." Maho looked at it. "But at range I think it is more than capable of the job."

Xxx

"What do you think the outcome will be President?" Midoriko looked over at her.

"Hard to say…" Anzu sighed. "Kay and Chiyomi are working together… but as we last saw, so are Miho and Darjeeling. I'd doubt Maho and Katyusha are foolish enough to not pair up when outnumbered two to one alone. So really, until someone makes a move…"

"It'll be Maho and Katyusha, they're cornered. Miho, Darjeeling, Kay, and Anchovie have no reasons to move when they know they have them trapped." Momo looked over at her. "In any case, it won't matter much unless these girls stop arguing…"

"Let me try and mediate…" Erwin slid off of her seat on one of the AMX 13 75's.

Anzu watched as she walked over towards the girls from Pravda trying to calm their side of the room down. "Come on, be a little reasonable…" One girl tried before being tapped on the shoulder by Erwin.

"Erwin, it's you!" The girl beamed.

"Yeah it's been a while, hasn't it Nina… anyway, eh…" Erwin paused as she looked over at the girl trying to calm down the girls arguing from Black Forest Peak. "I have an idea… follow my lead." She turned and walked across the room to the girl with curly brown hair.

"Excuse me, I don't think it's working…" Erwin tapped her on her shoulder.

"I think you're right…" The girl turned to face her. "Ah, you're one of the girls from Ooarai..."

"Yeah, I'm Erwin, instead of trying to get them to stop arguing, why don't you come watch the match with us?" She nodded towards the central area.

Nina nodded. "I don't think I'm having much luck either…"

The girl nodded. "It sounds great. My name's Koume, Koume Akaboshi" She paused and looked up at the monitor. "I'm not exactly sure who to root for…"

Erwin blinked. "You mean it doesn't matter to you if Maho wins or loses?"

Koume nodded. "Not really… Commander Maho is very nice, strict but nice. Erika can be a little quick tempered, but she's also really nice and can be very understanding. But I also got to know Miho pretty well before she left, and in the finals…" She paused. "I haven't ever heard anything bad about Darjeeling, Kay, or Anchovie either so."

"Katyusha can be really nice too… and Nonna is a great person once you get to know her." Nina smiled.

The group of three made their way over before finding seats in amongst the girls from Ooarai. "Sorry I couldn't get them to stop arguing Headmistress Nishizumi…" Koume glanced up at her momentarily.

"Don't worry about it…" Ami smiled at her. "You both gave it your best, they'll come around soon enough."

"Popcorn?" Anzu passed them a bowl full of it.

"Thanks Prez…" Erwin smiled at her.

"Don't mention it… eh… you're that girl that stopped Miho at the finals before the match…" Anzu blinked at her.

"Eh..." Koume blinked. "You noticed?"

"Yeah, I was wondering why someone stopped Miho and she never really told us why." Anzu looked at her.

"I wanted to thank her… I didn't have the chance to before she left." Koume blinked. "In the finals the year before as I'm guessing you heard the weather was bad… well it resulted in an accident, where the tank I was commanding got caught in a mudslide and fell into a river… Commander Miho even though she was commanding our flag tank, ran after us and ended up saving all of us. I was worried that she'd quit because of the bad memories of the finals."

"You were in that tank…" Nina blinked "I remember hearing about that."

Anzu blinked "So, that's why Miho was so zonked out when we pushed her onto the team…"

"Eh…" Erwin blinked.

"The proper way of putting it would be that you pretty much threatened to expel Miho, if she didn't join the Sensha Do team when you formed it…" Midoriko looked back at her.

"Why would you do that to her, if she didn't want to?" Koume looked at Anzu.

"We didn't have a choice ourselves… we had two options, win the nationals, or have Ooarai closed because of cost cutting measures being done." Anzu looked at her. "It may have been a rough start, but slowly Miho began to enjoy Sensha Do again."

Xxx

"Now!" Katyusha ordered.

"Fire!" Erika yelled at the same moment.

"Oh man, this thing…" Ritaiko plugged her ear as she pulled the trigger and the Sturmtiger fired.

Xxx

"WHAT THE!?" Alisa leapt back as dirt began raining down on them.

"They're coming from the woods!" Carpaccio pointed as the Sturmtiger, T-10 and T-62 began their approach.

"Everyone into the tanks!" Kay yelled as she climbed up the M103 again. "Focus on disabling the T-62 and T-10, the Sturmtiger shouldn't be a major problem for a bit!"

The T95's engine rumbled to life as it began slowly plodding its way forward and turning in slightly, putting its armor between the three advancing tanks and theirs.

Xxx

"They've come out, and are trying to push through Kay and Anchovie!" Yukari pointed across the lake.

Miho nodded. "Alright, we'll start then, commence operation Crazy Weasel!"

Darjeeling blinked. "Well that's an interesting name for a plan…"

"It fits their style I guess…" Assam looked over at her. "See you in a bit!" She tapped the top of the Centurion as it and the Leopard 1A1 began advancing out of the woods and quickly picked up speed, as they drove towards the exposed flank of Pravda and Black Forest Peak.

Xxx

"I guessed right…" Maho lowered her binoculars. "Fire!" The Porsche Tiger's 88mm KwK L/56 fired. The shell slammed into the rear of the Centurion disabling it and bringing it to a dead halt, as the first tank knocked out of the battle while its white flag popped up.

Xxx

"From the… they're not all there, Leopon is guarding their flank!" Tsuchiya looked up at Yukari.

"Do we know where the shell roughly came from?" Yukari asked.

"Around that bush, you can still see a small amount of smoke from the gun." Hoshino nodded.

Yukari looked over at Darjeeling. "We'll cover Miho, we can't let her get taken out!"

Darjeeling nodded before entering the Conqueror's turret. "Alright Orange, we have to cover Miho."

Xxx

Miho looked back at the Centurion before looking at the woods. "They split up…" Two sharp cracks echoed from behind her as shells whizzed through the air before entering the woods. "Yukari, and Darjeeling can handle Leopon…"She ducked inside the turret. "Mako, please take the lower edge of the tree line."

"Okay." Mako replied as the she began shifting the Leopard 1's direction to get it over to the other side of the road.

"Hana, please take out the Sturmtiger first, it should be almost finished loading." Miho looked at her.

Saori looked at her. "Uhh, what kind of shell should we use?"

"Load a HESH round." Miho looked at her. "The armor is thin on the rear of the Sturmtiger, our objective is to knock out its engine. HEAT rounds are less effective when used with a rifled barrel."

Xxx

"Naomi quick they're gonna get us!" Alisa began to freak out a little.

"Relax… remember this isn't a Sherman." Naomi lined up the Sturmtiger in the sights of the T95's 105mm. "At this range, if I miss… why is the T-62 turning its turret?" she shifted her aim. "I get it…"

Xxx

"The Leopard 1!" Kay gaped as it roared past the T-62 directly to their rear and fired once, directly into the Sturmtiger's rear plate before disappearing into the tree line.

"Quick, stop the T-62!" Anchovie yelled. As it backed away behind the disabled Sturmtiger and charged after the Leopard 1.

The T-10 fired a shell, slamming into the Lorraine's turret before it could get a shot off.

"Chiyomi!" Kay looked over just as the white flag popped out of the Lorraine.

"Take down the T-10!" Kay pointed directly at it as the M103's turret rotated, bringing its 120mm M58 rifled cannon to bear. At the exact same moment the M103 and T95 fired. Both shells slamming into the T-10 and knocking it out.

"Dang it!" Katyusha yelled as she pounded on the top of the T-10.

Anchovie smiled at Kay before a loud bang echoed as the M103 rocked sideways a little. And right in front of Kay the little white flag popped up, she looked the other way and saw the Conqueror across the lake aiming at them.

"Quick Alisa!" Kay pointed and the T95 began turning to face the Conqueror.

"You won't get a second shot off!" Naomi glared as she waited for the T95 to turn to face it before a loud whining groan and several bangs echoed in the compartment.

"DANG IT!" Alisa yelled as smoke billowed from the engine compartment before the white flag popped out, the 500 horsepower Ford GAF V-8 engine breaking under the strain of the tremendous weight of the machine it had been attempting to turn.

"I've got it!" Carpaccio announced as the AMX 50 Foch quickly turned and lined up the Conqueror.

The Conqueror fired a second shot and it ricochet off of the extremely sloped front of the Foch. The Foch fired, its shell slammed into the Conqueror's lead before it stopped completely. "YAHOO!" Kay cheered as she looked across the lake at it with the white flag popping out of the turret.

Xxx

"Yukari, before they spot us, head for the field where you can take on the Tiger P, the high velocity 105 cannon of the Lion should be more than capable of dealing with its armor." Darjeeling looked over at her.

"Got it!" Yukari replied "Tsuchiya, let's go get Leopon!"

Xxx

"We'll take the Foch as we leave the woods." Miho announced "Yukari be careful on your exit, we're going to use you as a distraction when you go after Maho."

"Roger that." Yukari's voice came over their radio.

"What about the T-62?" Saori asked.

"We'll double back around the lake edge, I think Nonna went to regroup with Maho." Miho looked at her.

"The T-62 is fast, we could cut our travel time by a third if we cut through the lake." Mako looked back at Miho.

"We don't have the snorkel equipment." Miho looked at her. "Saori, please load an APDS round."

Xxx

"There's the Lion! Get it and then we can focus on the…" Carpaccio blinked as a low rumble came from the woods. "Huh…" She turned around to look just as a shell slammed into the rear of the AMX 50 Foch.

The Leopard 1A1 roared out of the woods at full speed, the low rumble of its engine caused the disabled tanks to shake as it turned down and past the lake edge, heading for the other forest.

Xxx

"And there goes the last of Saunders' and Anzio's tanks…" Yoshiko smiled. "Now the question really is…"

"It got a lot quieter…" Ami looked around and the girls from Black Forest Peak, and Pravda had stopped arguing, and were either in disbelief, or amazement.

"I think they're starting to realize it." Shiho looked around the room as some of the girls on the outlying perimeter moved to get a better view of the action, even if it meant sitting with the girls they had been arguing with a minute before.

Xxx

"There's Leopon!" Satoko announced.

"Hoshino, you know its weak points, try to stop it in its tracks!" Yukari yelled down.

The two prototype heavy tanks approached each other before exchanging shots. The Porsche Tiger's shot struck the upper glacis plate of the Lion as the Lion's shell ricochet off of the side of the Tiger P.

A third shot echoed as the T-62 erupted out of the tree line, its shot bouncing off of the Lion's turret. "Maho and Nonna…" Yukari's eyes widened as it closed. "Quick the T-62!"

The low drone of the Leopard's engine roared as it charged over the road towards them. "Now!" Miho yelled as it opened fire on the T-62, knocking it out as it made a b-line for the Tiger P at full speed.

Maho began turning the turret to engage the Leopard 1 as it charged her. "Not this time!" The Tiger P fired nailing the Leopard's track destroying it, and causing it to spin out with the sudden loss of momentum on one side.

"FIRE!" Yukari ordered sending the shot directly into the side of the Tiger P's turret. The light popping sound echoed over the field as the Tiger P's flag popped, signaling that it was taken out.

Xxx

"The winners and commanders of the Olympic Team, are Miho Nishizumi, and Yukari Akiyama from Ooarai!" Ami announced to the girls as they all began to clap.

"No more questioning who is in command then…" Shiho looked at the girls from Black Forest Peak, then over at the girls from Pravda. "Everyone get your rest, tomorrow you get familiar with your new machines."

Xxx

"We underestimated what Miho could do with the Leopard 1…" Erika looked over at Maho, who was on the other side of the half track they were taking back.

"Not really." Maho looked over at her before back at Miho. "If the shot on the T-62 had missed, Nonna would have taken out Miho leaving the Tiger P and T-62 against the Lion. At range it may have the advantage against more than one tank, but up close…"

"The T-62 could drive circles around it." Yukari nodded. "Its armor isn't anywhere near as thick as the Maus', yet it's only a little smaller than it."

"Still, you have to admit one thing… with only four tanks per side, it really was a challenge." Kay smiled. "I think we got a taste of what it was like for Ooarai to face our schools in the nationals."

"The saying "The bigger they are, the harder they fall…" comes to mind." Darjeeling sipped on her tea.

"I think this wasn't to give everyone else a taste of what we were up against…" Miho looked around at them. "I think, it was to show us the weaknesses of our own tanks, and just how little we know about these new tanks."

"She's right…" Naomi nodded. "I missed my first shot on Katyusha… The T5E1 is a completely different gun than I'm used to… I can only imagine the others…"

"The T-62 isn't all that different… the same with the T-10." Katyusha looked at them.

Miho nodded. "I think we just need practice, and a chance to get used to working together…"

"We don't have very long for that though." Maho looked at her sister. "The Olympics are in two months." Miho's eyes widened as she heard the news.

"It's not like we haven't done something similar, we had one practice match, and then went right into the tournament for the nationals." Yukari looked at Maho.

"The Olympics are a different story though… every team will be on par with Black Forest Peak and Ooarai in the final battle of the nationals, and it's almost guaranteed that they will have had more time working together as a single team." Anchovie looked at Yukari. "On top of the matter that they have the backing of their nation… we were told to find what we could and throw a team together… We saw what that West German team looked like in that recording of the finals from the Munich games."

"It's almost guaranteed we'll be seeing girls from foreign schools that have made names for themselves like the commander from the US Military Academy, West Point." Kay looked at Maho.

"The Special Military School of Saint-Cyr, and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst as well…" Darjeeling noted the French and British military academies.

"Everyone is forgetting one thing… every nation has qualifying matches, we were just picked outright because of the shortness of time and that the nationals just finished." Erika looked at them. "We shouldn't be worried about the big name schools so much as the teams that will come from each nation."

"We just need to worry about what's right in front of us at this moment." Miho looked around at them. "There's no point in worrying if we don't see them anyway, right…"

Xxxxxx

"Quick stuff him inside!" one of the boys yelled as the Hetzer left the pack of disabled tanks behind it.

Quit pushing!

"Quit you're whining, we're moving on to extraction!" the one boy kicked Ald into the Hetzer.

How the heck did you guys find me?

"We got a message from Hyper, he used the tracking signal coming from your laptop and we…" Another boy looked at him.

*FWHAM!*

What the hell just happened and why are you upside down?

"They just rammed us with the Leopard! OH CRAP THEY HAVE ONE OF OUR SUITS!?" Another boy yelled from outside.

"GO GET'EM MAKO!" Saori yelled as the boys scrambled into a hasty retreat grabbing Ald and pulling him along as they ran for cover.

"Don't you think this is a bit much?" Miho asked.

"Nope…" Ritaiko smiled as Mako proceeded to chase the boys that had yet again tracked her Jagdpanther.


End file.
